Shall We Dance?
by blackxhole21
Summary: When Hermione's curiosity gets the better of her and she wakes up in a time that's not her own, she quickly has to come to terms with the fact that she can't go back...
1. Time Jump

**CHAPTER ONE: TIME JUMP**

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

After Ancient Runes, I headed up to Gryffindor Tower, hoping to take a nap to rid myself of the headache I'd gotten during class before I had Herbology that afternoon. Halfway up a staircase, however, I felt the familiar lurch of a changing staircase. I groaned---I definitely wasn't in the mood to play with the staircases. I often thought they had a mind of their own; sometimes they seemed determined to make you go somewhere entirely different than where you'd planned. This was definitely the case now---even after I went back down the stairs and tried another staircase, and then another, they kept changing, leading to the same place: a small landing with nothing on it but a large doorway with writing over it. Sighing, I shouted, "FINE!" and went up the stairs.

The writing above the doorway read, "tsap strawgoh seil rood siht hguorht." I looked at it, puzzled, before realizing that, read backwards, it said, "through this door lies hogwarts past." Curiousity got the better of me---something which came with six years of friendship with Harry and Ron---so I went through it.

And everything went black.

A moment later, I heard a familiar voice say, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Ouch," I said. "Hi, Harry. I don't know what happened, I---"

"Sorry," the voice said. "I'm not Harry. I'm James."

I opened my eyes to see James Potter standing over me, worry in his expression.

And all I could do was stare.

"Oh, my god," I said weakly, putting a hand to my head and sitting up. I was on the floor just outside the portrait of the fat lady on the seventh floor of Hogwarts---but clearly, I was not in my own time if James Potter was here, alive----alive, and still seventeen; the exact same age as Harry, Ron, and I.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked awkwardly. "Only I came up here and you were passed out on the floor, so---"

"No, I'm fine---oh, my _god_," I said again. "I need to see Dumbledore," I said finally.

James looked relieved that I'd finally come up with something coherent, and nodded. "Okay," he said. "Sure. Up you get, then," he said, helping me to my feet.

"Thank you," I said as he helped me down the corridor. "Sorry if I sounded a little odd; I was just disoriented." There was no need to tell him that I was from another time period. I needed to see Dumbledore, and get back to my own time.

"That's okay," he said easily, tossing me a grin. "I passed out when I was sick once---when I woke up, I couldn't even remember who I was."

"I've never passed out before," I said finally. "It's---"

"Scary?" he asked.

I smiled weakly. "Yeah," I agreed. "Really scary."

"Don't worry," he said. "Whatever's wrong, Dumbledore can fix it. Drooble's Best Blowing Gum," he added carelessly to the staircase when we got to the Headmaster's office, and he helped me onto it when it started moving.

"I'm James Potter, by the way," he added as we came to Dumbledore's office.

"Hermione Granger," I replied, smiling faintly at him.

James led me to the door of Dumbledore's office and knocked. It opened almost immediately to reveal Albus Dumbledore, younger by twenty years. The only visible difference, however, was that his beard was several inches shorter. Other than that, he was the same old Dumbledore, whose mere presence comforted me.

"Sir," James began. "I found Hermione here out cold outside the common room. She said she wanted to see you, so---I helped her here."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. I suppose you wouldn't want to wait outside while I speak with her?"

"Of course, sir."

"Come in, then, Miss...?"

"Granger, sir," I replied.

"Yes. Come in, come in."

The next twenty minutes were spent explaining how I'd gotten to Hogwarts in the first place and what had happened.

"Well, Miss Granger, it is clear you went back in time; however, there is nothing I can do to reverse the process."

"You mean, I can't---I can't go back?" I asked.

"No. Indeed, the year you came from does not exist yet."

"But---sir---"

"I am sorry, Miss Granger. But maybe it would be best to---make the best of a bad situation?" he suggested. "I know it is hard---rather like moving away from all your friends. But you can make new ones, my dear."

"But all my friends haven't even been born yet."

"And they won't be," Dumbldore said, "For several more years. Undoubtedly you do not want to spend several years by yourself?" he asked.

"Of course not," I said, defeated and trying not to cry.

"Ah, Miss Granger. All things happen for a reason. You were sent here for a reason. Why not make the best of it?" he said, seeing that I was upset.

"Yes, sir. What do I tell all the other kids?"

"I would say you are an exchange student who transferred here due to the school's good reputation."

"I'll say I'm from Beaxbatons, then," I said, "because Durmstrang's well known for being a Dark Arts school, and I can speak French, so it'll

go with my story."

"Good, good," Dumbledore agreed. "I shall have a bed set up for you in the sixth-year girl's dormitories."

"Thank you, sir," I said, and left the office, my head down to hide the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Hermione?" said a voice, making me jump. I looked up, wiping my tears away quickly, to see James Potter. I tried to smile, but it was a wasted effort.

"Hi, James," I replied.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, falling into step with me as I headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh, nothing," I said, waving it off. "I'm fine, just fine."

"I'd believe you, if you weren't still crying."

"Oh, I---I lost my parents recently," I told him. Technically, it was true. I'd never see them again.

"Oh, my god, I'm sorry. I'm an ass sometimes," James said. "I spend more time with my foot in my mouth than I do food."

"No, it's fine. I just---I miss them, is all," I said, and that was true.

"I bet," he said sympathetically.

"No," I said suddenly. "Please---don't give me the pity look. I can't stand pity. I know you mean well, and I really appreciate it, but I can't stand to have people feel sorry for me. I'm fine, I promise," I said.

"You're not from Hogwarts, are you? I've never seen you around."

"No, I switched from Beaxbatons after my parents died."

"Oh," he replied. "Cool. Listen," he added abruptly. "There's a Hogsmeade trip this afternoon. You want to come with me and my friends?"

"But aren't you---" I started, then stopped. I wasn't sure if, at this point, he was dating Lily yet.

"Aren't I what?"

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" I asked, choosing my words carefully. "I mean, you're good-looking and clearly a really nice guy, so I just assumed---"

He laughed. "Well, thank you for the compliments, but no, I don't have a girlfriend."

I felt my eyes fill up with tears again for some reason, and I whispered, "Thank you."

"So that's a yes?"

"Yes," I agreed, even as the tears fell.

"You're still crying," he observed, wiping my tears away with his thumbs.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Sorry, I---I can't get them to stop."

"No, it's fine," he said. "Sometimes you need to cry for them."

I looked up at that, the tears still falling. "You've lost someone?"

"My grandfather. Oh, that sounds dumb. He---"

"No, it doesn't. No loss is dumb. Every person has thoughts, feelings, and people that care about them, and when they die, the memory of them lives on. That's never dumb."

James looked at me. "Thank you," he said finally. "That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me."

"You can't have met too many decent people then," I told him, trying to wipe my tears away without success---they just kept coming.

He didn't say anything, just looked at me.

"What?" I asked finally, fidgeting.

He snapped out of it, startled. "I'm sorry; was I staring?"

"Kind of," I said, smiling shyly.

"Well, now, Prongs," I heard a voice---also familiar in a way I couldn't place. "I knew you had no tact, but making a girl cry is a bit too

horrible, even for you."

We turned to see a good-looking, dark-haired, dark-eyed guy heading towards us, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Hey, Sirius. Meet Hermione Granger. She's new. Hermione, this is Sirius Black, one of my best mates."

"Nice to meet you," I said, wiping my tears from my face with one hand even as I shook his hand with the other.

"And why are you crying, Hermione Granger?" Sirius asked gently.

"Oh---my parents died recently," I told him. It was the story I'd have to adopt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," he said solumnly. "How recently?" Sirius asked.

"Two weeks ago," I decided.

"Oh, my _god_. Are you okay?" he asked kindly, concerned.

I wiped my eyes a final time and straightened my spine. "I'm just fine."

"Well, shall we give you a tour of the castle?" James asked.

"Oh," I said blankly, surprised. "Sure, that'd be nice. Thank you."

With that, James and Sirius led me around the castle I'd lived in for five years. It was quite an interesting tour, however, due mainly to their descriptions of the teachers as we passed the classrooms.

"I'm afraid I'll get lost," I moaned after awhile, playing the part.

"Don't worry; it looks more complicated than it is. You'll figure it out," Sirius reassured me, patting me on the back.

I offered him a shy smile, and he returned it. James opened his mouth to say something just as an announcement was heard throughout

the school: "All students attending the Hogsmeade village trip this evening should come to the Entrance Hall immediately with signed permission forms."

"Oh, I don't have a permission form," I said, distressed.

"That's all right," James told me. "Dumbledore'll give you permission, seeing as you're new and all."

"And if he doesn't," Sirius added, "we can get you to Hogsmeade without one."

"So you've discovered the passageway," I said, smiling slightly until I realized what I'd said.

"How do you know about the passageway?" Sirius asked.

"The one behind the one-eyed witch?" I answered,trying to play it off like I'd meant to say it. "Two things: you both looked at it when you went by, though you both ignored every other staue in the building, and then you looked at each other and smiled; and I've read all about Hogwarts, of course."

"That passageway isn't in any book," Sirius answered firmly.

"Oh, I'm not talking about a book," I said lightly, thinking of the Maurader's Map. "I read all sorts of things. I'm kind of a bookworm," I said apologetically. "I---I read a lot, and I like homework and classes."

"Why do you look so ashamed of yourself?" said a voice, and the three of us turned to see a blue-eyed, sandy-haired boy heading over.

"Moony," Sirius said, "come meet Hermione."

He came over and my first thought was, _That's Professor Lupin_. It was so bizarre.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin," he said, offering his hand.

"Hermione Granger," I replied, shaking his hand.

He grinned at me. "Pretty name."

I grinned back. "Thanks," I said, surprised.

"Man, Remus, we've been trying to get her to smile for two hours, and you say ten words to her and she's beaming," Sirius said, shaking his head.

I laughed. "I don't see how a tour inspires too much smiling," I replied easily. "I was trying to memorize where everything was."

"And laughing too, now," James said, shaking his head in imitation of Sirius. "You're good, Moony."

"Apparently," Remus agreed, throwing me a smile. I could tell I'd end up being friends with him. He was so nice, so easygoing. "Well, I

came to get you guys in case you didn't hear the announcement. All the people going to Hogsmeade have to go to the Entrance Hall."

"We heard," James said.

"Coming?" Remus said, smiling gently at me. I smiled back and followed them to the Entrance Hall.

Half an hour later, we all headed into the Three Broomsticks for a drink, laughing. We found a small, mousy-looking boy who resembled a jumpy, beady-  
eyed Neville Longbottom at a table by himself, muttering into his drink.

"Hey, Wormtail, what's up?" Remus asked kindly as we sat down near him, and the boy started just as I froze.

Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew. The boy who, later in his life, would betray one of the boys sitting next to him and trick the other, leading to both their deaths.

"Hermione, this is Peter. Peter, this is Hermione," James said. I was glad I was sitting across the table, and wasn't required to shake hands with him.

"Enchante," I said, then realised I'd just spoken in French---a habit of mine when I was extrememly nervous. "Sorry---I mean, it's nice to meet you," I added when all of them looked at me oddly.

"What did that word mean?" Peter asked suspiciously. I could tell he wasn't very intelligent---his word choice was similar to that of a six-year-old's.

"Oh, it means 'nice to meet you' in French," I said, trying to brush it off. "I switch back by accident sometimes when I'm really---" I stopped, not wanting to tell them I was nervous around Peter---because as of yet, he hadn't harmed any of them. "Not paying attention," I added.

I noticed Sirius giving me an odd look, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Remus spoke before he did. "So where are you

from, Hermione? I've never seen you around," he pointed out.

"Oh, I'm from Beaxbatons," I replied, grateful I could speak the language.

"Are you fluent?" Remus asked.

"Oui---oh, _mon dieu_! I'm sorry, guys. I can't seem to stop now I've started," I said, sighing. "Yes, Remus, I'm fluent," I replied. "Pour---why, do you speak it?"

"No, no. I know things like hello and goodbye, but nothing beyond that. I was just curious," Remus asked.

"Do any of you speak French?" I asked, but they all shook their heads. "All right, well, just ignore it when I start speaking it. It's hard, going from speaking French all the time to speaking English---even though it really should be easy, considering English was my first language." I was surprised at how easily the lies flowed from my lips.

After the dangerous moment had passed, they all relaxed and talked like---well, like people who had been friends for so long that half of what they were saying wasn't coming out of their mouths. They talked like Harry, Ron and I had talked. It made me miss them, and to my horror, I felt my eyes fill with tears at the thought that I would never see them again. I stood up suddenly, my chair scraping against the floor, and said hurriedly, "Uh, guys, sorry, but I've got to get some studying done. I'll see you around---and thanks for the tour and everything."

As I was about to turn and leave, Remus said, "Hang on, Hermione, I'll walk you. I don't feel much like staying any more either."

He followed me out of the pub, despite stares from his three best friends. I stopped just outside the door and said, "You're a terrible liar, Remus. You want to stay. Please, stay. I'm just going to be in the library, anyway. Nothing interesting."

"I want to go with you," he said firmly, then smiled gently. "If that's all right with you."

"No, it's fine," I said. "I just don't think you really want to."

"Yes, I do," he replied, and we headed back through Hogsmeade towards the castle. It had started to snow lightly, and our hair and eyelashes soon had flakes all over them.

When we got back to the Gryffindor common room, Remus and I put our coats and scarves away, then ended up sitting on the long red couch in the common room, studying.

"It's nice to have quiet when you're studying, isn't it?" Remus said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But somehow weird. It's odd studying and knowing Harry and Ron _aren't_ five feet away playing chess, or about to walk in and ask for help with their homework, or---" I broke off, realizing that I was talking about people in the future.

"Harry and Ron?" Remus asked.

"Oh---my best friends from Beaxbatons," I answered, thinking quickly.

"Tell me about them," Remus suggested, leaning back in his seat.

I smiled, then decided to be daring. "Well, it's funny---Harry looks a lot like James, but with green eyes," I said, and Remus grinned. "And Ron's got red hair and blue eyes. Ron eats all the time; I think the highlight of our fourth year for him was when he figured out how to get into the kitchens," I remembered, smiling. "And Harry---he's so funny; we've been through so much that he handles everything like a general going into battle."

"Meaning what?" Remus asked, bewildered.

"Well, like we snuck out after curfew one night, and Harry had his cloak and map, and he was---"

"Cloak and map?" Remus said, surprised. I thought over what I'd said, and cursed my own stupidity. How on earth was I supposed to get out of this one?

"Odd," Remus said quietly. "That's just what James brings when we go out."

I smiled nervously, praying he wouldn't ask questions. Thankfully, he didn't.

Over the next few weeks, I became close friends with all the Marauders with the exception of Peter, who was hardly ever around. Sirius was always sweet to me; Remus, I considered my best friend in this time; and James, it was clear, thought of me as one of the guys---all three were becoming extremely close friends of mine, for which I was grateful. They remeinded me of Harry and Ron in the nicest way, and I began to accept that I would never be able to return to my own time. Several times I was invited along on their little midnight excursions, in which I readily participated. My acceptance of the fact that they were troublemakers, always bending the rules, seemed to surprise them until I explained that Harry, Ron and I had consistantly broken these same rules. After that, each seemed to respect me that much more, though they were surprised to find that I had been a prefect. Several times, they asked me for help with homework; they were also---excepting Remus---developing the same resistance to studying that Harry and Ron had developed.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night with a hand over my mouth. Apparently that had been what had woken me up. I shot up in bed, gasping, to see---

"_Sirius_?"

"Shhh," he shushed me, and I hurriedly glanced around the room to be sure all the occupants were still asleep before asking in a whisper, "What are you doing? How did you get in here?"

He grinned. "Simple levitation charm placed on your feet works just fine, but you can also use a broom," he whispered back. "James and Remus and I are going down to the kitchens and having a little party in the common room, just the three of us. We wanted to know if you'd like to come and play truth or dare and stuff with us."

I grinned broadly. "Guys play truth or dare?"

"Of course," he answered, a grin lighting his face again. "Any guy who says he doesn't is a dirty rotten liar. So what do you say?"

"Sure," I said, smiling, and got out of bed, shrugging into a robe and heading down the girl's staircase with him, levitation charm placed carefully on his feet.

Half an hour later, the four of us were laughing and talking, being absolutely crazy. James had dared Sirius to sneak into the girl's dorms, steal a bra, and wear it for awhile while we played; Sirius had in turn dared Remus to put on some stolen lipstick and kiss James' cheek; and now it was Remus' turn to dare me, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Come on, Remus, think of dare already," Sirius said, bored.

"Yeah, Moony, come on. We're getting bored here," James agreed.

"I don't know, guys. Help me out," he pleaded.

Sirius grinned and said, "Dare her to kiss me."

James laughed. "Nah," he said. "Dare her to go get more food from the kitchens, we've run out."

I smiled. "If you can't think of a dare, I'll take truth," I offered.

"Okay," Remus said, "Tell us a secret that no one else in the world knows."

All three of the boys were now looking at me as if they'd never seen anyone quite like me before; it was vaguely disturbing.

I sighed. "If any of you tell _anyone_ what I'm about to tell you, it could endanger people's lives. A _lot_ of people's lives. So what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room. You can't tell _anyone_."

They all nodded, surprised.

"I----well, this is really hard. I'm kind of afraid if I tell you, you'll think I've lost it," I admitted. "And technically, this isn't something no one else knows, because I told Dumbledore. But I've been lying to all of you, and I want it to stop now."

All of them were now watching me warily, paying complete attention.

"Okay, here goes: ever since I first came here, I've been lying to all of you. I'm not from Beaxbatons, though I do speak fluent French. The fact is, I've been at Hogwarts since my first year."

"No, you haven't," Remus objected, but I held up a hand.

"Not in this time period, no," I agreed, not daring to look at them. "I'm from the future. I found a door in Hogwarts one day that said something like 'through this door lies Hogwarts past', and I got curious. So I went through it. The next thing I knew, James was waking me up."

I looked up at them. All three of them were looking at me, but none of them looked like they thought I was crazy.

"I know it sounds crazy," I told them. "I know it seems like I made up a story for your entertainment. But it's the truth."

"If you can tell me something----anything----about the future, I believe you," Sirius declared finally. I beamed at him.

"Well," I said, smiling as I turned to Remus, "I knew you in my time."

Remus looked surprised. "Really? How?"

I smiled wider. "You were my Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Remus looked so surprised that he couldn't speak. A hand went over his mouth as James said, "All right, Moony!"

Then Sirius asked, "Do you know me or James in the future?"

"Yes," I said, choosing to tell them only the good things.

"How?" James asked interestedly.

I grinned. "You know how I'm always talking about Harry and Ron, my friends from Beaxbatons?"

They nodded eagerly.

"Well," I said, "Obviously they're not really from Beaxbatons, they're just from my time."

"I _knew_ they couldn't be totally fake," Remus exclaimed, but James shushed him.

"So how do you know me?" James asked.

"Well, I don't---not directly. But James---Harry is your son."

There was a moment of absolute silence, in which no one even moved. The only sound was the crackling of the flames in the fireplace.

Finally James let out his breath in a _whoosh_. "Wow," he said simply. "I wasn't expecting _that_."

Sirius grinned. "How do you know me, then?" he asked.

"You're Harry's godfather," I replied, and James and Sirius high-fived each other.

All three of them grinned, and I was smiling too until James asked, "What about Wormtail?"

I froze.


	2. Discoveries

**CHAPTER TWO: DISCOVERIES**

**SIRIUS BLACK**

Hermione raised her head slowly until we could see her face. Sadness was etched into every line of her face, and her eyes were so haunted-looking that it gave me a chill just to look at them.

It made me wonder what was in store for Peter.

"I can't tell you," Hermione finally whispered in response to Remus' queston, her voice barely audible over the crackling of the fire.

"Oh, come _on,_" James said. "You could tell me that I'm having a son, but you can't tell us how you know Peter?"

"No," she said quietly.

"Tell me, Hermione, come on," James pestered her, refusing to give up even when her eyes filled with tears. "Why won't you tell us? Is he related to you? Are we still friends with him?"

It was then that James got too eager and grabbed her shoulders, trying to get an answer from her. "Please tell me," he begged when she covered her face with her hands.

And then we all realised she was crying. Not just crying, either----more like sobbing her heart out like she was going to die.

"Shit," James said, and immediately released her shoulders and backed away. I stood up and was about to comfort her when Remus crossed the room to sit next to her. He pulled her into his arms, rocking her back and forth and muttering barely audible, comforting words to her.

"I'm sorry," James said quietly to Hermione, but she was crying so hard she couldn't hear him.

"Go, James," Remus instructed him quietly. "I don't think she wants an apology at the moment."

James nodded and led me to the boy's stairs. When I reached the bottom of them, however, I turned and looked back at the pair of them, sitting on the couch. Remus' arms were around Hermione, and she was crying into his chest. I wished just then that Remus and I could switch paces; that he could be the one going to bed as I held Hermione. I headed upstairs and collapsed facedown onto my bed, drawing the curtains closed around me, but I didn't sleep.

Before Hermione had come here, I'd dated a lot. I'd date a different girl every week----my Flavor of the Week, as James called it. I wasn't cruel to any of them----in fact, I was sweet and charming throughout the relationship, and at the end of it we always parted on good terms. My problem was, none of the girls had been interesting enough. They were pretty, sure, and a fair few of them were good kissers, too----but they weren't interesting as people.

And then Hermione had come. Even that first day, when we'd been giving her the tour, she'd looked around the castle fondly, as if she'd lived there for years. And, as it turned out, she had.

Hermione. Now _she_ was interesting. She was something special. I'd been temporarily single when she'd come, and I hadn't dated since. It was a record for me, as James had pointed out just two days ago----I'd been single for over two months.

I'd been doing it, in a way, for her----for Hermione. But now, I realized, she'd never felt anything but friendship towards me. I thought of all the times I'd found Hermione and Remus together by themselves in the past two months. They were essentially dating. They'd never declared the fact, but they were.

Which meant I'd have to leave Hermione alone.

The next morning I got up early, long before anyone else. I was starving, so I headed downstairs with the thought of nicking some food from the kitchens. I entered the common room silently, and froze at what I saw.

Hermione and Remus were sitting on the couch, awake. Remus was touching Hermione's face, and she was smiling.

_Remus and Hermione. Hermione and Remus._ Their names rung together in my head until I couldn't take it anymore. _Why didn't I see this coming!_ I screamed in my head, and fled. It seemed Hermione was now officially off-limits.

The worst part was, that only made me want her more.

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

I woke up in Remus' arms, my face still wet from all the tears I'd shed the night before. As soon as I moved, Remus woke and looked at me. He smiled and mumbled, "G'morning."

"Good morning," I replied. "I'm sorry about last night, I was just----"

"Don't worry about it," he replied, wiping away my lingering tears with his fingertips. "They'll forgive you as long as you'll forgive them."

I smiled at him, but we both jumped when we heard a _slam_.

Bewildered, I asked, "What was that?"

"Dunno," Remus replied, shrugging. "Sounded like the portrait hole closing."

I stood up and looked around. "There's no one here," I said, confused.

Remus stood as well. "Odd," he said. "Someone must've left, then."

"I didn't see anyone," I replied. "But I wasn't really paying particular attention, either."

"Oh well," Remus said. "It's the weekend. We should get dressed and go somewhere, all of us."

"Yeah," I agreed. "See you at breakfast."

At breakfast, James, Peter, and Remus were looking around worriedly. Both James and Remus were pretending last night hadn't happened, so I followed their lead.

"What's wrong?" I asked James finally.

"It's Sirius," James replied, turning to face me. "He's not here."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Is that unusual?"

James stared at me. "Oh, you wouldn't know," he realized. "You don't come to breakfast sometimes. Yeah, it's bad. He's never, ever missed breakfast before. Not in all the years I've known him."

I bit my lip. "Do you think he's okay? Should we look for him?"

"I don't know," James answered. "He wasn't in the dormitory this morning either, though."

"We need to try and find him," I decided.

"Right," James said. "We'll all split up, look in places he might have gone. Okay, everyone?"

We all nodded, and I created a sort of wizarding pager for each of us.

"These will beep when one of us finds Sirius," I informed them.

"Have I ever told you you're a genius?" James asked, clipping on to his belt.

"Not often enough," I replied easily, smiling at him, and we all left the Great Hall, each of us heading in a different direction. I checked the library, classrooms, the kitchens, and finally the common room. No sign of Sirius. Getting a sudden idea, I went up into the boy's dorms---Sirius wasn't there, either---and grabbed a jacket of Sirius' before leaving Gryffindor Tower to head outside.

And I found him.

He was sitting beneath the huge oak tree by the lake, his knees drawn up to his chest. I had the sudden urge to get my sketchpad and sketch him like that, but I resisted.

"Sirius?" I said quietly, coming up behind him. He started.

"Oh, hi," he said, an almost bitter smile appearing on his face.

"Are you okay, Sirius? Everyone's worried about you---we've all been looking for you."

"Where's Remus?" he asked curiously.

I raised an eyebrow. "Somewhere in the castle searching for you, I'd imagine. Why?"

He shrugged. "I just assumed that the two of you would search for me together. More time to talk and...stuff," he explained blandly, shrugging again.

My eyebrow arched again. "Meaning _what_, exactly?"

He shrugged. It seemed to be a favorite gesture of his. "Well, I saw you two on the couch this morning."

"So you're the one who slammed the portrait hole door. You scared the pants off Remus and I."

His face became twisted, like he wanted to say something but couldn't. "You're sure they didn't scare themselves off?" he asked sneeringly.

I stood. "What has gotten _into_ you?" I asked disgustedly.

"What?" he asked dully, as if he didn't know.

"You left this morning without telling anyone where you're going, got everyone worried and searching for you, and then when I actually find you, you're being horrible. What exactly is wrong with Remus and I being friends?"

He looked at the lake. "Nothing."

"So why did you skip breakfast, then? Remus, James and Peter all say you've never missed breakfast before. They're really worried about you," I told him.

"I never asked them to worry," he replied evasively.

"I never said you did. I said they're worried. As far as I know, people get worried all on their own," I said hotly, not liking his attitude at all. He seemed so bitter, so disdainful.

"Fine. I'll go see them," he replied, standing. "Want to come reassure Remus with me?" he asked sarcastically.

I slapped him, right across he face, so that his head snapped to the side and a red handprint glowed on his left cheek.

**SIRIUS BLACK**

I looked at Hermione, refusing to touch my stinging cheek, going completely still when I saw the fury in her gaze. Her eyes didn't look warm and kind anymore---they looked murderous, as if I dared to say one more word she wouldn't be responsible for what she'd do to me. I stayed completely still, looking into her cold eyes.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she asked.

I didn't avert my gaze. "Have you got an hour?" I asked, trying my most charming, lazy grin on her.

"It's not funny," she snapped, and my smile faded. I just looked at her for a long time, trying desperately not to notice how pretty she looked.

"Why do you hate me all of a sudden?" she asked finally, and her voice was quiet, pained.

"What?" I asked, startled. "I don't hate you."

"Then why are you being so horrible, Sirius? You've become a really good friend of mine---one of my _best_ friends, in fact---and then all of a sudden you start acting weird. You don't show up for breakfast, you're out sitting by the lake by yourself, you're implying that Remus and I are involved, you're acting moody and putting yourself and everyone else down---I don't know, Sirius," she said finally. "I honestly have no idea what's made you act this way."

"You mean---you and Moony aren't, you know...together?" I asked.

She stared at me.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "You think that Remus and I are---are---" she laughed gently then, trying to hide the fact so she wouldn't embarrass me but laughing all the same.

I shoved my hands deep into my jeans pockets and stared out at the lake, trying not to feel stupid and failing miserably at it. "Well, how was I supposed to know?" I asked finally. "I didn't think the idea sounded _that_ absurd. Well, I guess it wouldn't to me because it was my idea in the first place, but even so..."

She composed herself quickly and answered, "I'm sorry, it really wasn't funny. I just don't know where you would get the idea that we were dating from."

"Well, you're always together and stuff," I said, feeling my ears turning red.

"Yes, we are---because we're _friends_, Sirius. Friends, and no more," Hermione replied, smiling.

"Have you kissed him?" I asked. It was something I needed to know.

She looked at me like I was crazy. "No, of course not. Why?" she asked.

"I was just being nosy," I replied, shrugging. "It doesn't really matter, anyway."

"We should head back inside," Hermione observed, looking back up to the castle. "We're going somewhere to hang out today, all of us, and you need to eat before we go."

"All right," I agreed, and we went back to the castle.


	3. Changing The Future

**CHAPTER THREE: CHANGING THE FUTURE**

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

The Marauders and I went on an exploration of Hogwarts grounds, walking through the non-forbidden section of the forest (which was basically the outer ridge of it) and getting plenty sweaty. By the time we all got back to the castle, it was dinnertime. We all ate heartily, having worked up quite a large appetite on our hike, and then went up to the common room and hung out there.

Outside the portrait hole, a voice said, "Phoenix tears," and the common room door swung open. That in itself made everyone turn towards the door, because 'phoenix tears' wasn't our password. Therefore, the portrait should not have opened.

It was Dumbledore. Everyone in the room relaxed when they saw him, but were still quite clearly confused.

"All of the teachers have a universal password which allows us access to any area of the building we wish," Dumbledore explained, "though I'd advise against trying to use it, for it only works if you are on the Hogwarts staff."

Everyone laughed.

"I would, however, like your attention for a moment," he added.

The room got quiet very quickly, and everyone looked expectantly up at him.

"The staff and I," he told us, eyes twinkling, "would like to have, for lack of a better name, a 'muggle formal night'---in other words, a ball at which everyone wears Muggle formal wear; suits for the men, dresses for the ladies, and so forth."

Everyone was surprised. We'd never done something like that before. Of course, guys and girls alike were thrilled; muggle suits and dresses were far more attractive than wizarding dress robes. The whole room began talking.

"I'm surprised we've never thought of that," I commented to James, who was sitting near me. "Attendance to something like that would skyrocket."

He nodded.

"As I was saying, we will be holding a muggle formal night," Dumbledore continued, and the room went quiet again. "And for this, we will need a planning committee. It will be a lot of work to organize something like this, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Tomorrow morning, a sheet will be posted in the Entrance Hall for sign-ups. If you would like to be on the planning committee---  
whose duties include planning, decorating, and the major desicion-making---  
simply sign that paper, and come to the first meeting. The time and place of that meeting will be posted on that list." With that, Dumbledore exited the common room, and everyone burst into conversation again; the boys guessing at who they'd ask, the girls discussing what to wear.

"I think I'll sign up," I commented to Remus, who was sitting near me.

"I think I will, as well," he replied. "It'll be good to have something to do."

The next morning after breakfast, Remus and I went to the Entrance Hall. I waited as Remus signed his name on the planning committee sign-up sheet. At the top read the words, "The first meeting of the planning committee will take place in the Head's Quarters tonight at eight o'clock, for ten minutes."

"See you later," Remus said after he'd signed his name, then left for the library.

"Bye," I replied, and stepped forward to sign my name. I was surprised to see James accompanying me.

"Should be fun," James said as he signed his name, though he didn't look thrilled about it.

"Then why aren't you smiling?"

"Well..." James replied, hesitating. "I'm...not really joining because I want to design a ball."

"Why _are_ you joining, then?" I asked.

"Um...well," he said, grinning and growing faintly pink, "I kind of heard Evans talking about signing up, and see---" he pointed to a neat, cursive signature on the sign-up sheet. "Well, I thought I'd sign up too."

"Evans..._Lily_ Evans?" I asked, looking closely at the signature.

"Yeah," he replied, grinning wider.

"Wow," I said under my breath.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," I replied. "What's up?"

"I just...well, here's the thing," he said, lowering his voice. "In---in your time, am I---who is my wife? Who's Harry's mother?"

I grinned so widely that he stared. "Oh, that would be telling," I said mysteriously. "See you later," I added, and headed to the common room to get some work done.

He followed me.

"Come on, Hermione," he said, falling into step beside me. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Now where would be the fun in that?" I asked. "If I said you're going to marry someone else, what would you do? Stop chasing after Lily? Seriously, James---I don't want to change the future."

Then I thought of something. Harry had been born two years after James and Lily had gotten married, which had been a few months after they'd graduated---James had proposed on their graduation day. That meant that Harry would be born four years from now. But then they'd been killed by Voldemort a year later, when Harry was one. What if they hadn't been killed?

Oblivious to James' questions, I stopped walking and gasped, my hand covering my mouth.

"Hermione?" James asked. "What is it?"

I didn't answer---just took off running, heading for Dumbledore's office. By the time I reached it, I not only had James following me, but Remus and Sirius, who I'd run past on my way to Dumbledore's office. I was breathing hard.

"Any of you know the password?" I asked, and all of them shook their heads.

"Damn it!" I shouted at it.

"Well, I don't think that was it," James remarked when the gargoyle didn't move.

"Shit," I said.

"Why do you need to get in?" Remus asked, but I ignored him.

"Okay, think, Hermione, think...Drooble's Best Blowing Gum?" I tried. "Oh, no, he must've changed it by now. Okay...Cockroach Clusters? Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Fizzing Whizbees? Toothflossing Stringmints? Acid Pops?" I opened my mouth to try more passwords---which, as Harry, Ron and I had dicovered, were always candies---when the gargoyle started moving.

I lept onto the stairs, the boys on my heels. Standing on the top step, I waited impatiently for it to revolve upward, and was so impatient that before it even reached the top, I scrambled onto the landing and ran across to Dumbledore's office before the boys even got halfway up the stairwell. I knocked heavily and excitedly on the door.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" I called.

"Miss Granger?" I heard him answer, and heard him move to open the door.

"Yes, sir," I replied as the door opened to reveal the headmaster. "And if it's all right with you, I'd really like to talk with you as soon as possible."

He was clearly mystified, but nodded. "By all means," he said, "Come in."

"Guys," I said to Remus, James, and Sirius, "would you mind waiting out here?"

I saw them exchange a look, smiling. "Sure, no problem," Sirius answered.

"No listening in," I warned them. "It's really important that you don't hear this."

"Of course," James replied.

"Thanks," I said gratefully, then entered Dumbledore's office and closed the door.

"Professor, I just---" I began, but Dumbledore cut me off, holding up a hand. He cast a spell at the door, then lowered his hand.

"Imperburtable Charm," he explained.

"Oh," I replied. "But Professor, I just had a thought. I come from the future, right?"

"Yes."

"So can't I _change_ the future? Not even intentionally, but just by being here?"

Dumbledore looked up at me. "Miss Granger, the fact that you were sent back in time at all changed the future. In your time, however, things---"

"Oh, no," I interrupted. "They'll be looking for me, won't they? In my time, I mean."

"No," Dumbledore said simply. "Indeed, as I said, that time does not exist yet. Time is a complex thing, Miss Granger, but try and grasp this: because you just _vanished_ from your time, the effect your disappearence would have had on that time was too great. Therefore, the entire time froze, much like pausing a television. If there were a way to send you back---of which I know none, unfortunately---the time would continue exactly as if you hadn't left. If we could send you back, you would appear in exactly the place you were when you left, and no time would have passed. It would appear theat you merely fell and got back up. When you left this time and returned to yours, all of the people who knew you in this time, or even saw you, would have no memory of your being here. Therefore, there is only one person who would remember your time jump, and that is you."

"Oh my god," I said after a moment. "So all those people who used to claim they were sent back in time---"

"Not all of them were lying, no," Dumbledore answered. "A few, of course, were delusional, others were seeking attention. But many of them, I have no doubt, _did_ time travel---yet no one remembers, save for themselves."

"Well, sir, I have to tell you something. It's really, really important, and might upset you, but I need you to help me figure something out, if it's possible."

"Please," he said. "Enlighten me."

"Well, you see, sir, I know all four of the Mauraders---Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew, that is---in my time. Or knew them, rather," I amended.

"How?"

"Well, Remus was my Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," I told him, and he smiled. "One of my best friends, Harry, is James' son; Sirius Black is Harry's godfather and was the best man at James' wedding."

"Ah," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling as he smiled. "They always have been close friends."

"Yes, well...so much for the good news. There's absolutely no good news about Peter, I'm afraid. But anyway, in my time, Remus can't find a job because he's a werewolf---"

"But I thought he was your teacher?"

"For one year, yes. My third year. But he forgot to take his Wolfsbane Potion one night, and was running around the grounds with a werewolf's mind."

"Oh my," Dumbledore said.

"Yes. He resigned the next morning, afraid he might hurt someone. He didn't want it to happen again."

"I see," Dumbledore said, a deep sadness rooted in his eyes. "And the others?"

"The other three all have bad news, and they're all connected, so I'll have to start from the beginning," I told him.

"Please do."

"Well," I said, "All four of the Mauraders were still very good friends---or so they thought. James and Lily---oh, Lily Evans, you know her, she's his wife---and their baby son were being hunted by Voldemort, and they asked you for help."

"Me?" Dumbledore asked, surprised.

"Yes," I replied. "You told them that the only way to escape detection fom Voldemort was through the Fidelius Charm," Dumbledore gave a nod of recognition, "which requires the choosing of a Secret-Keeper. James, of course, chose Sirius, though you offered to be Secret-Keeper instead. About a week later, Voldemort found the Potters---and killed them."

"But the Fidelius Charm is foolproof," Dumbledore argued. "Unless Sirius betrayed them?"

I sighed. "No, sir, Sirius didn't betray them. On the contrary, Sirius would have died before doing such a thing. But in order to tell you this story, I'm going to have to pretend that he did, because this was how everyone knew it---and the reason for Sirius' fate."

"Go on."

"All right, well, this was how it appeared, remember, not how it really happened. Sirius betrayed the Potters because he was working for Voldemort, and Peter Pettigrew was the first to find him after the wanted posters went up for Sirius. Peter confronted Sirius about the betrayal, and Sirius murdered him---blew him up into pieces so small that a finger was the largest piece of him they found---and twelve muggles who were standing near them at the time. Sirius was brought to Azkaban where, twelve years later, he became the first one to escape from it."

Dumbledore, for the first time, actually looked dumbstruck.

"That was how everyone knew it. As they saw it, Peter was dead, and Sirius was rotting in Azkaban where he belonged. But that wasn't how it happened. The truth is, Sirius figured out that Voldemort knew he was the Secret-Keeper, and was coming after him. So Sirius told James to change Secret-Keepers---change to Peter. What he didn't realize was that Peter was working for Voldemort, and Peter took that information and gave it to the one person Sirius was trying to keep it from. Then he pretended Sirius had done it, cut off his finger, and transformed into his Animagus form, a rat---and took off. But Sirius was innocent, though still in a cell. So here's all of their futures, now that you'll understand: James and Lily are dead, just a year after having a baby boy they named Harry James; Sirius is in jail for the betrayal of the Potters and the murders of Peter Pettigrew and a dozen others; Remus can't find work because he's a werewolf; and Peter is working for Voldemort."

Dumbledore was sitting perfectly still, watching me as I fought not to cry.

"And just when you think it can't get worse," I added, "Voldemort is now invading Harry's mind---Harry is very special, as I'll explain in a moment---in fact, he's famous. But his mind was being invaded, Voldemort was putting visions in Harry's head. One night, he had a dream that my friend Ron's father had been bitten by a snake and was dying---he even knew where he was when he'd been bitten. They found Ron's father and brought him to St. Mungo's, where he stayed for two weeks. He nearly died."

"Oh, my," Dumbledore said, alarmed.

"Yes. But you see, don't you, why everyone began believing these visions? Everyone trusted them; if Harry had seen it, it was accepted as if Harry had physically been there to witness it, do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Well, one night Harry had a vision that Voldemort had captured Sirius and taken him down into the Department of Mysteries, and was torturing him. Harry, Ron and I, of course, rushed over, along with some friends, to find Death Eaters waiting for us. It had been a trap. Sirius got word of what we'd done, and came to try and get us out of trouble---and Bellatrix Lestrange killed him. Her own cousin." Tears were running down my face now. "So that's the future of those four nice boys in that hallway," I told him, crying. "That's what all their honesty and loyalty and friendship will get them. Two of them dead, one who's poor because of stereotypes, and one who joined Voldemort."

"Miss Granger, listen to me," Dumbledore said. "That future no longer exists. You, just by being here, in this time, have changed the course of the future forever. You cannot visit history without making an impact upon it. It's a scientific impossibilities."

"Can I save them?" I cried. "Can I help any of them?"

"All of them, Miss Granger. All of them. You can help anyone you wish to help."

"Can I really?" I asked.

"Anyone," he replied, smiling broadly at me. "As Godric Gryffindor once said, 'You don't like the future? Don't fret. All you've got to do is change it.' It's never to late to change the course of the future, Miss Granger. Never."

I smiled, laughing through my tears. "Thank you, sir," I said, standing to leave.

"Will you be at the planning committee meeting, Miss Granger?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes, sir," I replied. "As will Remus and James---and Lily."

"I see," he replied, eyes twinkling. "Matchmaking, are we?"

"Maybe," I said mysteriously, grinning. "Thank you again, sir," I said.

"Thank _you_, Miss Granger," he replied as he removed the Imperburtable Charm from the door.

"Goodbye, sir," I answered, and left. I smiled at the three boys sitting on the floor, but I'd forgotten the tears on my face.

"Hermione!" Sirius said, immediately jumping to his feet. "What's the matter?"

Grinning happily, I engulfed him in a huge hug. "Nothing, Sirius," I told him, laughing out of pure joy as I hugged Remus and James in turn. "Everything's wonderful."

**SIRIUS BLACK**

That night was the first meeting of the planning committee. I'd signed up, mainly because James, Remus and Hermione had, and I had nothing better to do. I'd made sure to sign up after Hermione, though, so she wouldn't see my name on the list.

I still didn't know why I'd bothered.

I showed up at the Head's Quarters at eight o'clock, looking around as I entered the room. Groups of people were all standing around talking; whatever teacher was heading the meeting wasn't there yet. I wandered around in the huge room until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?"

I turned to see Hermione, standing with Remus, James, and---

_Evans?_ I couldn't believe it. I looked at Remus, who shrugged, baffled; then at James, who did nothing but grin like an idiot as he stood next to Evans; and finally at Hermione, who wore on her face a mischevious smile that I found quite sexy.

_Stop that_, I told myself, and went to join them.

I said hello to everyone and waved to Evans, who waved back but didn't say anything, before Dumbledore himself walked in. Everyone quickly sat down and paid attention, but Dumbledore just smiled and waved his wand. A small sheet of paper and a self-inking quill appeared in front of each of us. Everyone looked at him, bewildered.

"I'll tell you now," Dumbledore said, "I am not going to be running this planning committee."

"Who is?" Evans asked.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "One of you," he replied. "Each of you, write down the name of a person in this room whom you believe would make a good president of the planning committee. I trust you all know each other?"

Everyone looked around, and nodded. The kids in the room were mainly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, with about twenty Ravenclaws and a dozen or so Slytherins. Everyone knew, if not everyone in the room, most of the people there.

I wrote down Hermione, convincing myself all the while that it was _only_ because she'd be good at it, and not because---not for any other reason.

When everyone wrote a name down, Dumbledore collected the papers, with a wave of his wand, into a neat pile. He took off his hat and poured all of the papers inside, then tapped the side of the hat with his wand. A name, in large, shimmering silver cursive, rose out of the hat: Hermione Granger. I smiled as Dumbledore vanished the remaining papers with a _pop_ and placed his hat back on his head.

"Miss Hermione Granger, who had the most votes, will be the president of the planning committee. Now, this meeting of the planning committee is adjourned; the next meeting will be Wednesday, same time, same place. Miss Granger, if you could stay behind for a moment; everyone else, thank you for joining, and from now on Miss Granger will make the major decisions."

"I hope to see you Wednesday," Hermione added, looking completely startled that she'd made president.

James, Remus and I---Evans left with the others, to James' disappointment---waited for Hermione outside the door. She came out a few minutes later, blushing but looking proud.

"Congratulations, Hermione," Remus said, giving her a hug.

"Thanks," she answered after James and I echoed the praise. "I can't believe I got picked!"

"I can," I replied.

"I voted for Lily," she confessed.

"I voted for you," James, Remus and I all said at once.

She looked at us, surprised, then laughed. "Wow. Thanks."

"You deserve it," James decided. "You're good at that kind of stuff."

"Stop flattering me, all of you," she said.

"We're not," Remus contradicted. "We're being honest. You're one of our best friends, Hermione. We're allowed to be honest. Unless, of

course, you'd rather we lied to you..."

James smiled at Hermione. "I think we're only honest with you, actually. We're not honest around girls."

"Hey hey hey," she shot back, hands on her hips as she looked at James. "I _am_ a girl."

"Just being honest," he teased, and she smacked his arm. "Oh, no," James said to that, putting on a high-pitched voice. "Look, I broke a nail."

Hermione slapped him in the back of the head for that. "Sexist."

"Ow," he said, rubbing his head where she'd hit him but still grinning. "That actually hurt."

She smiled. "Good," she told him. "You deserved it."

I looked between them, not really liking how close to flirting they were getting.

"Come on, you lovebirds," Remus teased, making it even worse. "Let's get upstairs before one of you gets pushed down them by the other."

And that, of course, began a full-on chase. Remus ran down the corridor with James chasing after him---but James couldn't keep up with Remus, because he was laughing. So Hermione ran past James, caught up with Remus, and actually lept onto Remus' back. Remus miraculously managed to stay upright, and gave Hermione a piggyback to the portrait hole.

Which, of course, did _wonders_ for my personal happiness.

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

The next day, Wednesday, was the first meeting that I had to run on my own. All the Mauraders showed up to see me standing in the center of the room, giving instructions.

"Okay, guys, listen up," I said, rapping on a desk with my knuckles to get everyone's attention. "Let's start a list of things we need to decide on. When I call on you, tell me your name and house whether I know you or not. We've all got to learn one another's names. All right, go on," I encouraged, looking around at the students gathered around me as I walked towards the chalkboard. I picked up my wand and transfigured a scrap of parchment into a piece of chalk.

"Remus Lupin, Gryffindor," Remus said when I called on him. "Decorations," he offered, and I wrote it in flowing script on the chalkboard.

"Anna Plicky, Hufflepuff," a girl answered next. "Theme." I added it beneath "decorations."

People called out a few things, and then ran out of ideas.

"Okay, I think that's good enough," I said after awhile, putting the chalk down. "Now, here's the deal: we only have four things here: decorations; theme; advertising; and when it'll be---but each of these things represents both plenty of work and a lot of time and effort. So here's what we're going to do: I'm picking people to be leaders of groups. Remus, come up here," I said, beckoning. He stood and came to the front. "Lily," I added, and she joined Remus at my side. "You---what's your name?" I asked a girl.

"Jessica," she replied.

"All right, Jessica," I called, beckoning her to the front, and she came up.

This process continued until I had eight people standing in front of me; a male and female from each house.

"Now, if each of you could introduce yourselves," I instructed them, and Remus started.

"I'm Remus Lupin, or Moony, and I'm a Gryffindor."

"I'm Lily Evans," Lily said, "I'm also a Gryffindor."

"I'm Jessica Valence," the girl with long black hair next to Lily, said. "You can call me Jess, Jessie, basically any form of my name. Oh, and I'm a Ravenclaw."

"Anthony Beckett, or Tony," said the dark-haired guy next to her. "And I'm a Ravenclaw."

"Jen Simpson, Hufflepuff," said the tall blond girl to his left.

"Charlie Presson, Hufflepuff," said the stout redheaded guy.

"Nick Rixxen, Slytherin," said the guy next to Charlie.

"Laura Quinoxin, Slytherin," said the last girl.

"Okay, great," I said. "Now, leaders, pair up." Of course, the pairs ended up being the houses. "All right," I said, pointing to people. "You guys, with the Hufflepuffs, Jen and Charlie. This group, with the Slytherins, Nick and Laura. That group back there, stop talking, you're up with the Ravenclaws, Tony and Jessica. The rest of you, come on up, you're with the Gryffindors, Lily and Remus. Now, all of you, stay near your groups and have a seat with them. You there, stop talking," I added to a guy who was laughing at something a buddy of his had said. "Come on, guys, have a seat."

I finally got everyone to sit down, then said, "Okay. Which group wants what?"

Silence.

"We'll take decorations," Lily said when no one spoke.

"Good," I said. "Anyone else have preferences?"

"We'll take advertising," the Slytherin guy, Nick, decided.

"Okay," I replied, looking at the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. "Who gets which one?" I asked.

"Theme," Jessica, the Ravenclaw girl, called.

"All right. Then that leaves you," I told the Hufflepuffs, "With when we're going to have it."

"Wait a minute," said an attractive guy in the back, raising his hand.

"And you are?" I asked, then realized I sounded like Professor Umbridge and said, "What's your name?"

"Kevin Minxe, Ravenclaw," he said hurriedly. "But we haven't said anything about music yet."

"A good point," I said, thinking. Then I had an idea. "Kevin, I'll tell you what. If you're willing, I'll make another group for advertising and you and I will be the leaders of that group."

"All right," he replied.

"Good," I said. "Okay, anyone who would rather work on music than whatever they're in, move to the back."

A few people from each group moved to the back, including Sirius. I smiled. "Perfect."

"Okay," I said, "for today, just start brainstorming ideas and ways to get what you want; we don't have time for much else. I know the Gryffindors have Quidditch practice and Ravenclaws are having a House party at nine thirty, so I'll try and get everyone out of here by nine, okay? All right, everyone, go for it."

I headed to the back of the room, and my group. Kevin Minxe, the guy who'd spoken up about the music, stood when I got closer. He held out his hand for me to shake.

"Just thought I'd re-introduce myself. Kevin Minxe," he said as I took his hand.

"Hermione Granger," I said, giving him my trademark firm handshake and releasing his hand. "Thank you for bringing up the music; I think everyone just forgot about it."

"No problem," he replied.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Sirius, sitting nearby, muttered bitterly.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"Nothing," Sirius sighed, sitting heavily back in his chair. "Forget it."

**JAMES POTTER**

"Hey Moony?" I asked a week later by the fire, just after yet another planning committee meeting. I was working on my Transfiguration homework; Remus had just finished his and had moved on to other things.

"Yes?" he replied, looking up from the crossword puzzle he was doing.

"Am I the only one who's worried about Sirius?"

Remus put his crossword puzzle down in his lap and rested his pencil across it, watching me with mild curiousity. "Worried about him for what reason?"

"He's obsessed, Remus."

"With what?" Remus asked. "Hermione? Trust me, I've seen him obsessed---not wth a girl, but with other things. This is not him

obsessed. This is Sirius in love."

My mouth fell open. "You think he's in love with her? Padfoot? Mr.-  
Different-Girl-Every-Week?"

"Yes. Haven't you ever noticed? He switches girlfriends so fast because he's trying to find a girl he actually likes. All the others---well, let's just say that most girls at Hogwarts want whatever piece of Sirius they can get. And for a lot of them, if that means dating him and then getting dumped without any hard feelings, they're willing."

"Wow," I said, feeling dumb. "And here I''ve been worried he's taking infatuation too seriously."

Remus looked up sharply. "Eat your words," he said sternly, but kindly. "If you're going to worry that he'd do something like that, worry about yourself as well."

I drew myself up, sitting straighter in the chair. "I," I proclaimed, "Am in love. And don't you forget it."

"Well, Sirius is in love, too. And don't you forget it," Remus mocked, then turned serious. "I mean it, Prongs. I think he's in love; I also think you're in love. I also think you each need to stop worrying about the well-being of the other."

"Why, is Padfoot worried about me?"

Remus smiled wearily. "I had this exact conversation with Sirius the other night. _He_ thought _you_ were taking infatuation too seriously."

"What'd you say?"

"The same thing I said to you," Remus said indifferently, picking up his pencil; he returned to his crossword, smiling gently as he filled in the next word. "To quit being such an old woman and stop worrying."

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

I woke up the next morning with an idea; I didn't know where it came from or even what had led to it, I just knew I thought it was brilliant. I went to breakfast in a rush, thoroughly excited.

"Guys!" I said, nearly throwing my bag onto the table in my excitement.

"What?" Sirius asked, startled.

"Guys, come with me. Come _here_! I need some information from you, and then I've got an idea---just come with me!"

Exchanging bewildered looks and shrugs, Remus, Sirius, and James got up and followed me. I ran over to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Kevin Minxe, my music co-team leader, on the shoulder. He turned.

"Hermione," he said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Hi."

"Hi," I replied distractedly. "Listen, could you do me a favor and come to the meeting fifteen minutes early tonight?"

"Sure," he replied. "What's up?"

"I can't tell you now," I told him, sounding rushed (probably because I was). "I've got to go do something. But I'll talk to you then, okay?"

"All right," he agreed, watching me curiously.

"Okay," I said, turning on my heel and going as fast as I could out of the Great Hall. "Thanks, Kevin," I called over my shoulder, and he waved, looking bewildered but amused.

I led the now thoroughly confused Marauders all over the castle, finally reaching my destination.

"Hermione, why are we in the Magical and Muggle Music Studies classroom?" Remus asked bravely after a moment.

"Because," I replied, beaming, "We're starting a band."

They stared.

"Well," James said. "That was unexpected. Are you planning on telling us where _that_ came from?"

I laughed joyously. "Sit, sit," I told them, ushering them towards the desks. "Okay, first thing," I began. "Do any of you play anything?"

There was a long silence. "Drums," Sirius said. "And electric guitar."

"Electric guitar," James agreed, thinking. "And I can sing," he added.

"Good," I said. "Remus?"

He smiled. "Clarinet and alto sax, but I can't sing at all."

"This is awesome!" I said happily. "We can start a band just with these instruments. If we all played all the instruments we're capable of, we'll have a clarinet, an alto sax, drums, three guitars, a piano, and two singers."

"You play piano and guitar, I take it," Sirius guessed. "And you're a singer."

"Yeah," I replied. "Have you guys ever played acoustic guitar?"

They shook their heads.

"Huh," I said. "Well, it's the same thing. I can play both, and it really isn't any different; except with an acoustic, you don't need an amp and you have to tune it every once in awhile. You could learn."

They looked at each other, grinning.

"Hermione, why are we starting a band in the first place?" James asked.

"Because Kevin and I have been working on the music for Muggle Formal Night," I said, noticing a scowl from Sirius but ignoring it, "and we've tried---and failed---to book several muggle bands. But it's prom season, and all the decent muggle bands are taken. So we're starting one, and we'll play at Muggle Formal Night. Don't worry, I'm still going to hire a DJ; we'll still be able to dance and party and have a good time. But I thought it would be cool to have a live band."

"Cool," James said.

"Do we have music?" Remus asked.

"No," I replied, grinning. "That's the fun part. We're writing our own."


	4. The Planning Committee

**CHAPTER FOUR: THE PLANNING COMMITTEE**

**SIRIUS BLACK **

That night was the first meeting of the planning committee. I'd signed up, mainly because James, Remus and Hermione had, and I had nothing better to do. I'd made sure to sign up after Hermione, though, so she wouldn't see my name on the list.

I still didn't know why I'd bothered.

I showed up at the Head's Quarters at eight o'clock, looking around as I entered the room. Groups of people were all standing around talking; whatever teacher was heading the meeting wasn't there yet. I wandered around in the huge room until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?"

I turned to see Hermione, standing with Remus, James, and---

_Evans?_ I couldn't believe it. I looked at Remus, who shrugged, baffled; then at James, who did nothing but grin like an idiot as he stood next to Evans; and finally at Hermione, who wore on her face a mischevious smile that I found quite sexy.

_Stop that_, I told myself, and went to join them.

I said hello to everyone and waved to Evans, who waved back but didn't say anything, before Dumbledore himself walked in. Everyone quickly sat down and paid attention, but Dumbledore just smiled and waved his wand. A small sheet of paper and a self-inking quill appeared in front of each of us. Everyone looked at him, bewildered.

"I'll tell you now," Dumbledore said, "I am not going to be running this planning committee."

"Who is?" Evans asked.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "One of you," he replied. "Each of you, write down the name of a person in this room whom you believe would make a good president of the planning committee. I trust you all know each other?"

Everyone looked around, and nodded. The kids in the room were mainly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, with about twenty Ravenclaws and a dozen or so Slytherins. Everyone knew, if not everyone in the room, most of the people there.

I wrote down Hermione, convincing myself all the while that it was _only_ because she'd be good at it, and not because---not for any other reason.

When everyone wrote a name down, Dumbledore collected the papers, with a wave of his wand, into a neat pile. He took off his hat and poured all of the papers inside, then tapped the side of the hat with his wand. A name, in large, shimmering silver cursive, rose out of the hat: Hermione Granger. I smiled as Dumbledore vanished the remaining papers with a _pop_ and placed his hat back on his head.

"Miss Hermione Granger, who had the most votes, will be the president of the planning committee. Now, this meeting of the planning committee is adjourned; the next meeting will be Wednesday, same time, same place. Miss Granger, if you could stay behind for a moment; everyone else, thank you for joining, and from now on Miss Granger will make the major decisions."

"I hope to see you Wednesday," Hermione added, looking completely startled that she'd made president.

James, Remus and I---Evans left with the others, to James' disappointment---waited for Hermione outside the door. She came out a few minutes later, blushing but looking proud.

"Congratulations, Hermione," Remus said, giving her a hug.

"Thanks," she answered after James and I echoed the praise. "I can't believe I got picked!"

"I can," I replied.

"I voted for Lily," she confessed.

"I voted for you," James, Remus and I all said at once.

She looked at us, surprised, then laughed. "Wow. Thanks."

"You deserve it," James decided. "You're good at that kind of stuff."

"Stop flattering me, all of you," she said.

"We're not," Remus contradicted. "We're being honest. You're one of our best friends, Hermione. We're allowed to be honest. Unless, of course, you'd rather we lied to you..."

James smiled at Hermione. "I think we're only honest with you, actually. We're not honest around girls."

"Hey hey hey," she shot back, hands on her hips as she looked at James. "I _am_ a girl."

"Just being honest," he teased, and she smacked his arm. "Oh, no," James said to that, putting on a high-pitched voice. "Look, I broke a nail."

Hermione slapped him in the back of the head for that. "Sexist."

"Ow," he said, rubbing his head where she'd hit him but still grinning. "That actually hurt."

She smiled. "Good," she told him. "You deserved it."

I looked between them, not really liking how close to flirting they were getting.

"Come on, you lovebirds," Remus teased, making it even worse. "Let's get upstairs before one of you gets pushed down them by the other."

And that, of course, began a full-on chase. Remus ran down the corridor with James chasing after him---but James couldn't keep up with Remus, because he was laughing. So Hermione ran past James, caught up with Remus, and actually lept onto Remus' back. Remus miraculously managed to stay upright, and gave Hermione a piggyback to the portrait hole.

Which, of course, did _wonders_ for my personal happiness.

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

The next day, Wednesday, was the first meeting that I had to run on my own. All the Mauraders showed up to see me standing in the center of the room, giving instructions.

"Okay, guys, listen up," I said, rapping on a desk with my knuckles to get everyone's attention. "Let's start a list of things we need to decide on. When I call on you, tell me your name and house whether I know you or not. We've all got to learn one another's names. All right, go on," I encouraged, looking around at the students gathered around me as I walked towards the chalkboard. I picked up my wand and transfigured a scrap of parchment into a piece of chalk.

"Remus Lupin, Gryffindor," Remus said when I called on him. "Decorations," he offered, and I wrote it in flowing script on the chalkboard.

"Anna Plicky, Hufflepuff," a girl answered next. "Theme." I added it beneath "decorations."

People called out a few things, and then ran out of ideas.

"Okay, I think that's good enough," I said after awhile, putting the chalk down. "Now, here's the deal: we only have four things here: decorations; theme; advertising; and when it'll be---but each of these things represents both plenty of work and a lot of time and effort. So here's what we're going to do: I'm picking people to be leaders of groups. Remus, come up here," I said, beckoning. He stood and came to the front. "Lily," I added, and she joined Remus at my side. "You---what's your name?" I asked a girl.

"Jessica," she replied.

"All right, Jessica," I called, beckoning her to the front, and she came up.

This process continued until I had eight people standing in front of me; a male and female from each house.

"Now, if each of you could introduce yourselves," I instructed them, and Remus started.

"I'm Remus Lupin, or Moony, and I'm a Gryffindor."

"I'm Lily Evans," Lily said, "I'm also a Gryffindor."

"I'm Jessica Valence," the girl with long black hair next to Lily, said. "You can call me Jess, Jessie, basically any form of my name. Oh, and I'm a Ravenclaw."

"Anthony Beckett, or Tony," said the dark-haired guy next to her. "And I'm a Ravenclaw."

"Jen Simpson, Hufflepuff," said the tall blond girl to his left.

"Charlie Presson, Hufflepuff," said the stout redheaded guy.

"Nick Rixxen, Slytherin," said the guy next to Charlie.

"Laura Quinoxin, Slytherin," said the last girl.

"Okay, great," I said. "Now, leaders, pair up." Of course, the pairs ended up being the houses. "All right," I said, pointing to people. "You guys, with the Hufflepuffs, Jen and Charlie. This group, with the Slytherins, Nick and Laura. That group back there, stop talking, you're up with the Ravenclaws, Tony and Jessica. The rest of you, come on up, you're with the Gryffindors, Lily and Remus. Now, all of you, stay near your groups and have a seat with them. You there, stop talking," I added to a guy who was laughing at something a buddy of his had said. "Come on, guys, have a seat."

I finally got everyone to sit down, then said, "Okay. Which group wants what?"

Silence.

"We'll take decorations," Lily said when no one spoke.

"Good," I said. "Anyone else have preferences?"

"We'll take advertising," the Slytherin guy, Nick, decided.

"Okay," I replied, looking at the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. "Who gets which one?" I asked.

"Theme," Jessica, the Ravenclaw girl, called.

"All right. Then that leaves you," I told the Hufflepuffs, "With when we're going to have it."

"Wait a minute," said an attractive guy in the back, raising his hand.

"And you are?" I asked, then realized I sounded like Professor Umbridge and said, "What's your name?"

"Kevin Minxe, Ravenclaw," he said hurriedly. "But we haven't said anything about music yet."

"A good point," I said, thinking. Then I had an idea. "Kevin, I'll tell you what. If you're willing, I'll make another group for advertising and you and I will be the leaders of that group."

"All right," he replied.

"Good," I said. "Okay, anyone who would rather work on music than whatever they're in, move to the back."

A few people from each group moved to the back, including Sirius. I smiled. "Perfect."

"Okay," I said, "for today, just start brainstorming ideas and ways to get what you want; we don't have time for much else. I know the Gryffindors have Quidditch practice and Ravenclaws are having a House party at nine thirty, so I'll try and get everyone out of here by nine, okay? All right, everyone, go for it."

I headed to the back of the room, and my group. Kevin Minxe, the guy who'd spoken up about the music, stood when I got closer. He held out his hand for me to shake.

"Just thought I'd re-introduce myself. Kevin Minxe," he said as I took his hand.

"Hermione Granger," I said, giving him my trademark firm handshake and releasing his hand. "Thank you for bringing up the music; I think everyone just forgot about it."

"No problem," he replied.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Sirius, sitting nearby, muttered bitterly.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"Nothing," Sirius sighed, sitting heavily back in his chair. "Forget it."

**JAMES POTTER**

"Hey Moony?" I asked a week later by the fire, just after yet another planning committee meeting. I was working on my Transfiguration homework; Remus had just finished his and had moved on to other things.

"Yes?" he replied, looking up from the crossword puzzle he was doing.

"Am I the only one who's worried about Sirius?"

Remus put his crossword puzzle down in his lap and rested his pencil across it, watching me with mild curiousity. "Worried about him for what reason?"

"He's obsessed, Remus."

"With what?" Remus asked. "Hermione? Trust me, I've seen him obsessed---not wth a girl, but with other things. This is not him obsessed. This is Sirius in love."

My mouth fell open. "You think he's in love with her? Padfoot? Mr.-Different-Girl-Every-Week?"

"Yes. Haven't you ever noticed? He switches girlfriends so fast because he's trying to find a girl he actually likes. All the others---well, let's just say that most girls at Hogwarts want whatever piece of Sirius they can get. And for a lot of them, if that means dating him and then getting dumped without any hard feelings, they're willing."

"Wow," I said, feeling dumb. "And here I've been worried he's taking infatuation too seriously."

Remus looked up sharply. "Eat your words," he said sternly, but kindly. "If you're going to worry that he'd do something like that, worry about yourself as well."

I drew myself up, sitting straighter in the chair. "I," I proclaimed, "Am in love. And don't you forget it."

"Well, Sirius is in love, too. And don't you forget it," Remus mocked, then turned serious. "I mean it, Prongs. I think he's in love; I also think

you're in love. I also think you each need to stop worrying about the well-being of the other."

"Why, is Padfoot worried about me?"

Remus smiled wearily. "I had this exact conversation with Sirius the other night. _He_ thought _you_ were taking infatuation too seriously."

"What'd you say?"

"The same thing I said to you," Remus said indifferently, picking up his pencil; he returned to his crossword, smiling gently as he filled in the next word. "To quit being such an old woman and stop worrying."


	5. La Musique

**CHAPTER FIVE: LA MUSIQUE**

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

I woke up the next morning with an idea; I didn't know where it came from or even what had led to it, I just knew I thought it was brilliant. I went to breakfast in a rush, thoroughly excited.

"Guys!" I said, nearly throwing my bag onto the table in my excitement.

"What?" Sirius asked, startled.

"Guys, come with me. Come _here_! I need some information from you, and then I've got an idea---just come with me!"

Exchanging bewildered looks and shrugs, Remus, Sirius, and James got up and followed me. I ran over to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Kevin Minxe, my music co-team leader, on the shoulder. He turned.

"Hermione," he said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Hi."

"Hi," I replied distractedly. "Listen, could you do me a favor and come to the meeting fifteen minutes early tonight?"

"Sure," he replied. "What's up?"

"I can't tell you now," I told him, sounding rushed (probably because I was). "I've got to go do something. But I'll talk to you then, okay?"

"All right," he agreed, watching me curiously.

"Okay," I said, turning on my heel and going as fast as I could out of the Great Hall. "Thanks, Kevin," I called over my shoulder, and he waved, looking bewildered but amused.

I led the now thoroughly confused Marauders all over the castle, finally reaching my destination.

"Hermione, why are we in the Magical and Muggle Music Studies classroom?" Remus asked bravely after a moment.

"Because," I replied, beaming, "We're starting a band."

They stared.

"Well," James said. "That was unexpected. Are you planning on telling us where _that_ came from?"

I laughed joyously. "Sit, sit," I told them, ushering them towards the desks. "Okay, first thing," I began. "Do any of you play anything?"

There was a long silence. "Drums," Sirius said. "And electric guitar."

"Electric guitar," James agreed, thinking. "And I can sing," he added.

"Good," I said. "Remus?"

He smiled. "Clarinet and alto sax, but I can't sing at all."

"This is awesome!" I said happily. "We can start a band just with these instruments. If we all played all the instruments we're capable of, we'll have a clarinet, an alto sax, drums, three guitars, a piano, and two singers."

"You play piano and guitar, I take it," Sirius guessed. "And you're a singer."

"Yeah," I replied. "Have you guys ever played acoustic guitar?"

They shook their heads.

"Huh," I said. "Well, it's the same thing. I can play both, and it really isn't any different; except with an acoustic, you don't need an amp and you have to tune it every once in awhile. You could learn."

They looked at each other, grinning.

"Hermione, why are we starting a band in the first place?" James asked.

"Because Kevin and I have been working on the music for Muggle Formal Night," I said, noticing a scowl from Sirius but ignoring it, "and we've tried---and failed---to book several muggle bands. But it's prom season, and all the decent muggle bands are taken. So we're starting one, and we'll play at Muggle Formal Night. Don't worry, I'm still going to hire a DJ; we'll still be able to dance and party and have a good time. But I thought it would be cool to have a live band."

"Cool," James said.

"Do we have music?" Remus asked.

"No," I replied, grinning. "That's the fun part. We're writing our own."

**SIRIUS BLACK**

That night, there was a planning committee in the Great Hall. We'd started putting up decorations, and the whole hall was set up with ladders, chairs, and stepstools so that we could hang things. I was working with a huge group who was in charge of the decorations, laughing with a guy named Mike I'd become friends with, when I looked across the hall.

There was Hermione, up on a ladder and reaching for something she really wasn't tall enough to get to. I was about to drop what I was doing and go help her when Kevin reached up and touched her hip. She looked down, smiling at him, and said something. He smiled back, said something that made her laugh. She climbed down off the ladder and he climbed up; he put the banner up for her, then climbed back down. I made an excuse to walk by them, just in time to watch as Hermione laughed and put her hands on her hips in a mocking way.

"Now what would I do without you?" she asked, clearly teasing.

He smiled at her---a smile I wasn't sure I liked. "Find another tall guy to put things up for you?" he replied, teasing back.

Flirting. That's what they were doing. Flirting.

I decided right then and there that I didn't like Kevin Minxe.

So I mostly ignored him, though I was civil when he spoke to me. He'd come up and ask my opinion of something occasionally---but mostly it was choosing his idea or Hermione's. I always chose Hermione's---partly because I didn't like him, and partly because hers were better than his. I was nice enough to the guy, I suppose; though several times I'd shoot him a dark look and get a glare from Hermione in return.

We started working on our band the next day. Hermione wrote tons of music, which involved all of us using every instrument to our advantage.

The songs were complicated, but incredibly fun to play. One entire song was pairs; the first part was Hermione on piano and James on guitar; the next part was Remus on sax and me on drums; following that was me on guitar while James sang; and finally Hermione on guitar and me on drums. She called it our "pair piece," though she wrote several others for fun, and it finished with a huge finale---me on drums, Hemione on piano and singing, James on guitar and singing, and Remus playing sax.

One of the songs Hermione wrote was one I called "Insanity" because Hermione had written in a lot of cymbal crashes and guitar riffs. In it, we often ended up switching instruments in between other people's solos and things---in fact, in one of the songs, Hermione started off playing piano and singing. Then, in the space of four beats' rest, she had to get up, run to her guitar, get the strap over her neck and start playing. It was amazing to watch. In all of our free time, you'd find all of us either in the common room writing music, in the Head's Quarters working on Muggle Formal Night ideas, or in the Music classroom playing.

It was the most fun I'd had in a long time. It was great; Hermione, James, Remus and I all became inseperable; people started referring to us as "the Brat Pack" instead of "the Marauders," because Hermione had replaced Peter in our group of friends---though he still came with us on Remus' transformation nights and froze the tree.

"Sirius?"

I snapped out of my trance. "What?"

"I said let's take it again from the top, and you're sitting there staring at me with this enormous grin on your face," Hermione replied, hands on hips as she smiled at me.

"Oh," I said, grinning. "Sorry."

We started on the pair piece again, but Hermione cut us off soon after we started.

"I don't know, guys," she said. "It sounds off."

"I think---and this isn't a critizism, Hermione, just a thought," Remus said, "But I think your voice is too low."

"I'm an alto-soprano," she replied indignantly. "Too high I'd believe, but too low? It doesn't get much higher than alto-soprano."

"I agree with Moony," James agreed. "Don't get me wrong," he added, "Hermione, I love your voice, it's gorgeous. I just think we need something slightly higher-pitched. Just for this part."

She thought for a moment, then suddenly snapped her fingers. "I know a girl who's a soprano-vibrato," she said. "I'll ask her to guest-star."

"Who is it?" I asked.

She smiled at all of us. "Someone. Hang on, I'll be right back." She dashed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Remus, grinning, unhooking his saxophone from it's neck strap and sitting down. "Whew," he said. "I needed a break."

"She's a hard worker," James replied seriously, wiping his forehead on his sleeve.

"That she is," Remus agreed. "But who do we know who's a soprano-vibrato? That's the highest it gets; that's a step above soprano."

"No idea," James replied as I sat down next to him. They both looked at me.

"What, like I'm totally in the habit of finding out the pitch of my girlfriend's voice?" I asked incredulously.

"No," James agreed. "But you definitely know more girls than Remus and I."

"That's true," I replied, "But it doesn't help much."

Hermione entered the room then, out of breath but beaming. "May I introduce the guest singer of our yet-unnamed band---more specifically, for our yet-unnamed song?" She swung the door open fully, revealing---

"Lily Evans," Remus said in surprise, then stood up to shake her hand. "Welcome to our---what'd you call it, Hermione?---our yet-unnamed band."

"Thank you," she replied, taking the hand he offered.

"Evans," James said, his mouth open. Hermione, who was standing near him, silently reached over and closed his mouth. It was a mark of how distracted he was that he didn't even glare at her. He just said blankly, "Hey, Padfoot, tell me something."

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

"Can you see her, or am I hallucinating? Is Lily Evans standing in front of me?"

I grinned at the blush that was beginning to creep up Evans' face, then replied, "Yeah, she's there, mate. She also heard the question, and she's now giving you one of those 'explain-or-die' looks that girls are so good at."

Hermione laughed. "Okay, guys. Sorry, Lily," she added to Evans. "They're good at talking about people like they're not in the room."

Evans grinned. "Don't worry about it," she replied. "I've dealt with enough guys on this planning committee thing to know how they act."

"Evans," James said suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to him.

"There's another thing," Lily added to Hermione. "I've been friends with him for three weeks now and he persists in calling me 'Evans'. I have a first name, too, James," she added to James.

"Will you go to Muggle Formal Night with me?" he said quietly.

The room went silent. Having known James for six years, I knew what it must have taken for him to ask out a girl---especially _this_ girl---while Remus, Hermione and I were in the room. He would die before getting turned down by a girl in public---except this one. He'd continually asked Evans out through our first five years at Hogwarts, both with and without an audience. He didn't seem to care about anything but getting her to date him. But this year he'd stopped completely and made friends with her; and now, in a total leap of faith, he was trying again.

Lily stood perfectly still for a full minute, and didn't say a word. She slowly raised her gaze to meet James', saw the look in his eyes. She smiled slowly.

"Yes."

James couldn't have looked more surprised if she'd proposed to him in the spot. "What?" he asked quietly, staring at her. I think both of them had completely forgotten that there were other people in the room.

Her smile widened. "Yes, James, I'd love to go to Muggle Formal Night with you."

"You know," James said slowly, "I think there's something in a girl's voice that makes it completely impossible for guys to hear the words they want to hear. Can someone translate?"

I laughed. "She said yes, mate."

James stared at her for a long, long time. "Wow," he said finally. "Well, all right then. Could you all excuse me for just one second?" he added, and vanished into the hall, closing the door behind him. But the closed door did nothing to muffle the sounds of James screaming "YES!", running around, and whooping. After a full minute of this, he came back in, grinning wildly. I struggled not to laugh as he said. "Now, let's get to work!"

Hermione laughed, then replied, "Yeah. Okay, Lily, you're on. I'll sing the first time, just so you can get the rhythm down, and then it's all you. All right?"

"Okay," Lily replied, and we ran through the so-called "singing song," listening to Hermione's voice as it flowed over the music, intertwining with it. When it was over, she went to the folder we kept our music in and pulled out the lyrics---which were written down simply because we were constantly changing them, and we wanted to keep track of them. She handed them to Lily, and we spent the rest of the afternoon working on it. Lily's voice was sweetly high-pitched, like a small child's. It was perfect for the song, as Remus had predicted, but I preferred Hermione's slightly lower, more melodious voice. Hermione's voice was haunting and dark in a way I couldn't explain or hope to describe.

"Thanks, Lily," Hermione said at the end of the rehearsal. "The planning committee meeting starts in twenty minutes or so. You want to hang around and help us choose song names until it's time to go?"

"Sure," she replied, and sat down. James quickly took the seat next to each other, and even as we all sat down I saw their eyes meet, and they didn't break eye contact until Hermione spoke.

"All right, first of all, we need a band name. We've got a band, and we've got music, but we haven't named anything. Any ideas?" Hermione asked.

Lily smiled. "You could call yourselves The Brat Pack," she suggested, and we all laughed.

"We could," James agreed.

"Okay. Anyone have a problem with The Brat Pack?" Hermione asked, and we all shook our heads. "Perfect," she said. "Now, about song names..."

Later that night, after we'd successfully named our songs and determined the order we'd play them in, we all walked across the castle to the Great Hall, where tonight's planning committee meeting was being held.

Because Hermione had taken care of the music aspect of it, she'd allowed Kevin Minxe to head meetings when she wasn't around. When we got there, we discovered they'd started decorating---but now it was the big stuff; the tables and the dance floor and stage and things.

"Decorations already?" I asked, walking in and looking around.

"Not 'already,' Padfoot," Remus corrected. "The ball's in two days, after all."

"Is it really?" Hermione asked, startled.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Oh, no," she groaned. "I haven't gotten a dress."

"Wear an old one," Remus suggested.

Hermione smiled shyly. "I don't own any," she admitted.

Lily came over from where she'd been hanging a banner up. "What's the matter, Hermione?" she asked, noticing Hermione's face.

Hermione laughed. "I've been stupid," she replied. "I forgot the ball is on Friday, and I have one night to buy a dress. I've got to go to Hogsmeade tonight."

"Oh," Lily replied. "Why don't you go with me and a couple of my friends? We're doing some last-minute shopping tonight, too."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks, Lily."

"No problem," she replied.

"Hermione!" We all heard a shout, and turned to see Kevin Minxe.

"Hi, Kevin," Hermione replied.

"Wow, I'm so glad you're here," he told her. "We needed your input on something. If you could just come over here...?"

"Of course," Hermione replied, and they walked off, talking. I eyed Kevin's retreating back with distaste, then went off to help hang up decorations.


	6. Le Bande De Copains

**CHAPTER SIX: LE BANDE DES COPAINS**

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

The meeting was fun; everyone was standing on chairs, ladders, step stools, and tables in order to hang things on the walls. We'd gotten Flitwick to charm the ceiling to look like a dark, starry night for the ball, with a full moon; banners announced the ball; a dance floor and stage were set up.

I was up on a ladder, holding one end of it to the wall as Kevin, on another ladder next to me, hung the other end. Once he'd attached it, I started on mine. When I was finished, I leaned back slightly to view our work.

"It looks fantastic, Hermione," Kevin told me, sending me an easy grin. I felt a thrill in my stomach at that smile, and I smiled back. "Hey," he added, "By the way, would you like to go to Muggle Formal Night with me?"

I looked at him and grinned. "I'd love to."

"Great," he replied. "Now, sorry to change the subject, but what do you think of this for the stage curtains? I thought it was a little too dark." He held up a small patch of material, and I realized it was bright, fire-engine-red linen. I sighed.

"_No_, Kevin. This is far too light. Our music isn't...it isn't _red_. Do you know what I mean?"

"Sure," he said, though it was clear he didn't. "So what color do you want the curtains to be, then?"

I smiled, pulled out my wand, and touched it to the fabric. It immediately turned into a dark, heavy, navy-blue velvet---the blue so dark it was nearly black. Across it, in a diagonal stripe, was a line of shining silver thread.

"Wow," Kevin said. "Nice. What's the stripe for?"

I shook my head. "This is no stripe," I replied. "Are the curtains ready to be hung up?"

"I think they hung the red ones," he answered apologetically.

"Good," I replied, and crossed the room the see the progress on stage.

The people in charge of decorations had, indeed, hung up the red linen curtains; the were closed, as they were working behind them and, when pushed aside, they were in the way. I pulled out my wand and concentrated. I pictured the fabric I wanted, then held my wand to the curtain.

It was as if I'd dropped a ball of black ink into a red pond. The color spread quickly, in a wave, across the fabric; it transformed into velvet as it billowed outwards; soon, the curtains were made of the same deep navy blue as the fabric in my hand.

When that was finished, I held my wand to the curtains again, and silver thread appeared, spelling the words:

_**Welcome To The First Annual**_

_Muggle Formal Night_

"That looks fantastic," Kevin said, coming up behind me.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling at him.

"Well, as usual, I've come to interrupt your work to ask you an opinion on something," Kevin said. "Could you come backstage for a minute?"

"Sure," I assured him. I laughed as he took my hand and led me backstage, though I caught Sirius' eye from across the room, and he looked deeply hurt. I was at a loss as to why, but allowed Kevin to pull me behind the curtain.

I looked around backstage, but no one was around---and all the decorations that we were supposed to be hanging were already up.

"What do you need my opinion on?" I asked Kevin, and he turned to look at me.

He was very close to me.

"This," he replied, and kissed me.

I was surprised; Kevin had never shown that he wanted anything but friendship towards me, and here he was kissing me. But I liked Kevin---a lot. And so, almost immediately after his lips met mine, I began kissing him back. When we finally broke the kiss, we stood and looked into one another's eyes for a long time.

"So," Kevin said after several minutes of having our faces just inches from each other's. "What'd you think?"

I smiled shyly. "I liked it," I told him. "You're a very good kisser."

"Good. Want to do it again?"

I laughed and kissed him gently. It was Kevin who deepened the kiss a moment later; but I protested when I realised that here we were, making out while everyone was working hard.

"Kevin," I said, pulling away. "Kevin, we have to get back to work."

He groaned. "Why?" he asked grumpily, and I smiled, kissing him softly.

"Because we only have two days," I reminded him quietly, "And we still have a lot of work to do."

He groaned again. "Fine," he replied grumpily, and we both went back around the curtain. Kevin still held my hand even as Lily came running up to me.

"Hermione! Where have you been?" she asked hurriedly. I flushed and pulled my hand out of Kevin's, taking a step away from him, but I didn't get the chance to say anything before Lily looked at Kevin, then me, and grinned. "Oh," she said simply, which made me even more embarrassed. "Well, Hermione, we need you over here, some paint spilled and we can't get rid of it. We tried vanishing spells and all kinds of things, but nothing works and we couldn't find you---"

"Okay, Lily," I said calmly. "Where is it?"

"Oh---over here," she answered, taking me over to a paint spill on the floor. I picked up the nearby carton and laughed.

"Lily," I told her, "This is water-based paint."

"What's that mean?" she asked, and I realised there was no such thing in the wizarding world.

"Could someone get me a bucket of water?" I called, and saw Sirius leave the room. I got a mop from the corner, just as Sirius marched back in, lugging a huge bucket of water with him. "Thanks," I said, taking the bucket and trying not to worry about the shadowed look in Sirius' eyes. He looked like his best friend had just died. I made a mental note to ask him about it later, and told everyone to stand back. Without further delay, I dumped the entire bucket on the floor. Everyone gasped and backed up from the rapidly spreading water, surprised at what I was doing. I laughed and began mopping it up, the color on the floor vanishing as the water touched it. Almost everyone laughed and got back to work; Sirius, Lily, Remus, and James stayed to help me, summoning more mops from the nearby broom closet.

**SIRIUS BLACK**

I got two letters that night while Hermione was out with Lily and her friends. I opened the first one to find it was from my mother.

_Sirius,_

_When are you going to make something of yourself? Albus Dumbledore is a fool; you'll realise that someday, and your twisted loyalty to him will change. Rigelus' did, and he's younger than you are. He spent only a year at Hogwarts before begging to be switched to Durmstrang. Sometimes I truly think you are just too stupid to realise the direction you're heading in. Well, Sirius, let me tell you this: if your loyalties don't lie with your family, then our loyalties no longer lie with you. If you haven't made something of yourself within a month, you will cease to be a part of this family._

_Toujours Pur,_

_Aquila Black_

I shook open the second letter to see my father's signature. Preparing myself for insults or worse, I read:

_Sirius Black,_

_What in the hell are you waiting for? Your mother sent you a letter as well, I know, but I wanted to tell you a few things. First off, your mother's getting upset. Your brother only spent a year at your freak school; you've spent seven. Are you trying to make Lord Voldemort come after you? What's wrong with you?_

_I'll tell you what's wrong with you. You're a worthless piece of shit who hasn't got any ambition. I'm ashamed to admit you're my son. Now, Rigelus, he's a fine boy; he's becoming a Death Eater next week. You see? He knows what's important: power. He's got ambition. And you're still in school---not a decent school like Durmstrang, but a school for idiots who actually think that Dumbledore can protect them._

_So, you little shit, your mother's been kind enough to give you a month to get your ass in gear. If you haven't straightened your act out by then, we're disowning you. Is that clear?_

_It goddamn well better be._

_Toujours Pur,_

_Cygnus Black_

I let out a deep breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, crumpled up both letters, and threw them, not knowing or caring where they landed.

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

Lily's friends turned out to be Sarah Frasier, who was tall, with light brown hair to her shoulders and emerald-green eyes, and Hallie Bidding, who was shorter, with black hair halfway down her back and hazel eyes. Both of them were in our year, and therefore in our dormitory. I knew them, but had never really talked to them.

"Well," Lily said after we all said hello, "Shall we go?"

"Sure," Hallie responded, and we headed down past the gates into Hogsmeade.

"Okay," Sarah said as we walked past a few shops. "What does everyone need?"

"I just need to figure out what to do with my hair," Lily replied, "So I just need a hair shop that sells hair clips and things. And Hermione needs a dress."

"A dress?" Hallie asked, looking at me. "Well, let's do that first. You've got to have a dress. I was just looking for shoes."

"I just need earrings," Sarah said.

"Okay, let's go to Madam Malkin's," Lily decided. "They're stocking Muggle formalwear just for Muggle Formal Night."

We went into Madam Malkin's, and each of them immediately started taking dresses off racks and holding them up to me.

Within five minutes, I held a pile of dresses that reached from my arms to my chin.

"Okay, girls, let her try them on," Hallie said, noticing the size of the pile and laughing. Lily and Sarah looked up from the dresses they held and started laughing, too. I grinned and headed to one of the fitting rooms, which startled me because each wall held a mirror that completely covered the wall itself.

The next half an hour was spent trying on ridiculous dresses; Sarah joined me halfway through, though she already had a dress, and soon the four of us were competing to see who could find the worst dress.

I went into my changing room and put on a huge, frilly, sparkling pink dress, adorned with bows, ribbons, lace, and fringe.

"Everyone ready?" I called, laughing, and received three affirmative answers. "Okay, ready: One, two, _three!_"

A the word "three", all four of us unlocked the fitting room doors and jumped out, looking at one another's dresses.

Hallie saw my dress and burst out laughing, making Lily and Sarah turn and look. Within seconds, all of us were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.

"Ladies and nonexistent gentlemen," Lily said grandly, composing herself for a few seconds, "I believe we have a winner!" Which, of course, just made all of us laugh harder. Still laughing, we all went in and changed back into our robes; we'd each picked out ten dresses, and that had been the last one.

"Okay, guys, now I need help," I said when we'd all calmed down and put the dresses back. "I need to pick out a real dress."

"Why, you wouldn't wear the pink one?" Sarah asked innocently, and we all burst out laughing again.

"Here," Lily said seriously when she calmed down, picking up a dark green dress with a silver stripe down each side. "Try this one."

I took the dress and went into the changing room; when I emerged, I had a grumpy expression on my face.

"I look like a Slytherin," I said, and they all laughed.

"You look fabulous, though," Lily said.

"She's going with a Ravenclaw, not a Slytherin," Hallie pointed out to Lily, then turned to me. "I don't think it's your color," she said helpfully, surveying me with a shrug.

"Good," I said, and went to take it off. Sarah brought me a simple, navy blue dress, which Lily insisted wasn't formal enough. Then Hallie brought me a rich purple gown, which was really pretty but didn't look very good on me.

"You know," Lily said, "You always wear dark colors, Hermione."

"So?" I asked.

"Maybe we should stop bringing you dark dresses," Lily explained.

"Oh," I said, surprised. "Sure."

**SIRIUS BLACK**

"Sirius," Remus called as he and James came in the portrait hole.

"What?" I asked, dragging my eyes away from the window.

"Hey," James said, seeing the look on my face. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I replied.

"Liar," James answered.

"Fine," I said, looking out the window. "Kevin and Hermione are going to Muggle Formal Night together, and I got a couple letters from my family tonight."

I saw Remus and James exchange a look.

"Well, what do you say to coming down into Hogsmeade with us?" Remus asked.

I shrugged. "Fine," I replied, getting up.

"Well, that was enthusiastic," James commented, and I shrugged before following them out of the common room, out of the castle and into Hogsmeade.

Half an hour later, I was feeling a lot better; hanging out with Remus and James would do that to you. We'd just some out of Honeydukes when James suggested a visit to Zonko's, so we all headed down the street together, laughing and messing around.

"Hey," Remus said suddenly. "Sirius, would you mind if James and I asked you to stay here for a minute or two?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Your birthday's in a week, stupid," James replied, grinning, "and we know what we want to get you. Only there aren't any other Hogsmeade trips this week, so we've got to get it now."

I shrugged. "Cool."

"Yeah," James agreed, and they headed off down the street. I grinned and sat on the curb, looking around; then I caught a glimpse of a familiar face out of the corner of my eye. I stood up and crossed the street; peering in Madam Malkin's store windows, I was surprised to see Lily, along with Hallie Bidding, Sarah Frasier, and---

"Hermione?" I said out loud, but of course she couldn't hear me. Then I remembered: she was shopping for a dress tonight. And only then did I realize that Hermione wore a floor-length, silver dress that was so pale it looked white. She didn't see me; none of them did. I watched as Hermione turned around in a full circle for the other girls to admire her dress; they were all smiling. Hallie said something to the girl who worked there------and he went into the back room. Hermione said something to Sarah, and all four of them laughed; I just stared. Alex came out of the back room and said something to Hermione; laughing, she lifted her hair up and allowed him to put a diamond necklace around her neck.

"Oi, Sirius," said a familiar voice, and I spun around, startled, to see James standing behind me.

"Hi," I said breathlessly. "Where's Remus?"

"He's bringing your present up to the castle," he replied. "What are you so interested in Madam Malkin's?"

I cleared my throat. "Oh---new robes," I lied. "Anyway, let's get to Zonko's."

James laughed. "You don't think you're getting off that easy, do you?" he asked, peering over my shoulder. He froze for a second, then laughed gently. "Oh, _man_, Sirius."

I shrugged, looking out at the snow.

"This girl's got you whipped, doesn't she?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, shut it," I replied as he began chuckling. "Like you're not obsessed, either."

"Why don't you just ask her out, then, mate?"

"Because she's going out with Kevin," I replied bitterly.

"Going to a school dance together does not qualify as dating," James replied.

"No," I replied quietly, taking one last look at Hermione through the window. "But going behind the stage curtain during a planning committee meeting and making out with him does." I headed down the street, only stopping when James grabbed my shoulder.

"Hey, wait a minute. How do you know that?"

"I was near the curtain," I said, moving away from his hand, "and I heard them."

"Let me guess: you made an excuse to go over there when you saw them go back there, and then used your Animagus senses to hear what they were saying."

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry, mate," James said sympathetically.

"Let's go to Zonko's," I replied shortly, spotting Remus.

James nodded slowly. "Okay."

Though it took every once of will I possessed, I didn't look back.

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

I ended up trying to decide between three dresses. One was simple, a pale silver, floor-length dress with tulle underneath to make the skirt wide. One was deep blue with a thin stripe of silver down each side; the collar and hem were also lined in silver, and intricate designs were embroidered all over the bodice in silver thread. The third was pale green, which I decided I liked more for it's style that for it's color. I decided against the green, then tried on both the silver and the blue dresses again; I chose the blue.

"You see?" Lily said when I announced my decision. "Always goes for dark colors."

"Aw, leave her alone, Lily," Sarah responded. "She did try on the silver one."

"That's true," Lily replied. "So what are you going to do with your hair?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I admitted, fingering a curl that hung in my face. "Leave it down, I suppose. I never used to be able to, my hair was so bushy, but now that it's thinned out and actually curled, it's not a problem anymore."

"Good," Lily decided. "You can help me with mine, then."

"I will," I promised.

"I still need shoes," Hallie commented.

"Okay, how's this: we all help Hallie find her shoes while we're here. Then we go to Curl Up and Dye and figure out hair, and I can buy my earrings," Sarah suggested.

_Curl Up and Dye?_ I thought. _Oh, that hair and accessory place that used to be next to Madam Malkin's._

"Good idea," I decided, and they headed to the shoe section while I purchased the dress.

"That's a nice dress, that is," said the guy behind the counter.

"Thank you," I said, surprised.

"I'm Alex. Alex Diton."

"Hermione Granger."

"Pretty name. Here you are," he added.

"Thank you," I replied, and took the dress, wrapped safely in a protective cover and folded into a bag, just as Hallie returned from the shoe section with a pair of white, one-inch heels.

And then Alex's eyes caught Hallie's.

"Alex! Oh my god!" Hallie exclaimed.

"Hi," Alex replied, grinning madly.

"Oh, you two know each other?" I asked.

"Why didn't you tell me? Oh my god, it's so good to see you," Hallie said in a rush, not listening to me.

"Hallie and Alex have been dating for six months," Lily informed me. "They just haven't seen each other in awhile because he was visiting family in America."

"Well, guys, you probably want to talk and all that," I said. "Hallie, we'll just be next door getting earrings, okay?"

Hallie grinned. "Yeah, see you in a minute."

Sarah had just decided on a pair of earrings to go with her dress when Hallie burst in to Curl Up and Dye, her face lit with a huge smile. "Well, I've got my date to Muggle Formal Night," she said happily.

We all laughed, then went to talk to the woman behind the counter about Lily's hair.

"Chenelle?" Sarah said to the lady behind the counter.

The woman turned. "Sarah! Oh, It's so good to see you, darling. How are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you."

"And who are these lovely young ladies?" the woman asked.

"Oh---these are my friends. Lily Evans, Hermione Granger, and Hallie Bidding," she said, pointing out each of us in turn. "Girls, meet my aunt Chenelle, also known as Madam Krumner."

"Nice to meet you," we all said, smiling.

"It's very nice to meet you, as well," she replied. "I'm always glad to meet Sarah's friends." The woman talked with us for awhile, and I was strongly reminded of Mrs. Weasley because of her warmth and kindness. "Now," she said, looking at us each in turn. "Are you four getting your hair styled here for Friday night's ball?"

"Yes," the other three said. I fingered my hair as she looked at me expectantly.

"Oh," I said. "I was actually just going to leave it like this. Maybe put some Sleakeazy's in it, you know."

"What's this?" she replied. "You have this beautiful hair, and you won't let me style it?"

"Oh, it's not you, Madam Krumner," I replied, but she cut me off.

"Please, call me Chenelle. I'm not yet forty; 'Madam' makes me sound like I'm eighty."

"Okay. Well, I guess you could style it if you wanted to," I decided.

"For free," she said happily. "All four of you, I will style for free. Anything you want."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," we all immediately began protesting.

She held up a hand. "How's this---I'll style your hair for free if you'll all agree to buy your earrings for the ball here. Any earrings, it doesn't matter. Whatever earrings you like."

We all smiled. "I guess we could do that," Sarah agreed. "You're sure you don't mind? We're all willing to pay."

"Just buy a pair of earrings, and I'll give you a free hair appointment."

"Okay," we all agreed, and all five of us headed to the earring display once more.

"I already have my earrings," Sarah commented.

"What color is your dress, dear?" Chenelle asked me kindly. I smiled.

"It's dark blue and silver," I replied, smiling. "Would you like to see it? I just bought it---not ten minutes ago," I told her.

"Ooh, may I?" she asked eagerly. I pulled it out of it's bag and laid it on the counter before her wondering eyes. "Goodness," she says. "It's gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. And I'm glad I saw this, because I know _exactly _the thing I want to do with your hair. And," she added excitedly, "I have the perfect earrings for you, if you like them. I won't be but a moment, they're in the back room," she said hurriedly, and disappeared through the door behind her.

"Five Galleons says they're completely gorgeous," Sarah said boldly, having overheard our conversation.

I turned to her. "Why are you betting?" I asked, watching Hallie call Lily over to a certain pair of earrings.

"Because I've never seen Chenelle this excited," Sarah replied, smiling.

"Then I won't take that bet," I replied, laughing. "I'll lose."

Sarah's eyes widened. "You bet you will," she said breathlessly, looking past me.

I turned; and there in front of me were, as Sarah had said, a completely gorgeous set of earrings.

"Yeah, Sarah," I said slowly, staring. "I would've lost."


	7. Trust and Honesty

**A/N: Major thanks to Moi, who pointed out two reasonably important mistakes in this chapter (now fixed). I _really _appreciate that kind of feedback. Thanks again, and thanks to all of my other readers---especially my reviewers!**

**CHAPTER SEVEN: TRUST AND HONESTY**

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

The earrings were elegantly simple; they dripped down past my ears and hit my neck when I moved. The stud part was a minuscule diamond in the shape of a square; the dangling piece was made up of three links of sapphires. Each link had three spokes, like a wheel, which met at the center of each circle with another tiny square-shaped diamond.

"They're beautiful," I said, taking them to the mirror with me and trying them on.

"Wow," Sarah said in awe, looking at me.

"_Whoa!_" Hallie shouted, and rushed over. "Are those _yours_?"

"No," I said. "And I don't think I could afford---"

"Ten Galleons," Chenelle said.

"Wow," I said quietly. Most of the more expensive jewelry in here was at least fifteen. Ten was a bargain. "I'll take them," I announced.

"Good," Chenelle said as I handed her the money. "Because I have a tiara on order that would match these perfectly. It won't be in until Friday night. It should get here about the same time you do. And the wonderful part is, it's one of my Trust pieces," she added, then went to put the money in the cash register.

"Trust pieces?" I asked Sarah blankly.

"Trust pieces are the jewelry and dresses Chenelle lets people borrow for a night at a time," Sarah explained. "You've got to give her a Galleon for every night you'll have it, but you get your money back when you return it---unless you've damaged it somehow, in which case your money goes towards repairs."

"What a great idea," I said interestedly.

"Well," Hallie said, "Is everyone set? Because we should be heading back to the castle about now."

"Yeah," Lily replied, holding up the gold-and-pearl earrings she'd chosen. "I've got mine."

"Me too," Hallie agreed, showing off her diamond-studded hoops.

"I'm ready," I chimed in, revealing my purchase.

"Oh, those are beautiful," Lily commented, and I smiled at her.

"Well, let's get going," Sarah told us. "I still have to find a date for the ball."

"You don't have one?" I asked as we left.

"Nope," she replied. "I was too busy to ask anyone. But---hey!" she shouted suddenly. "Remus!"

None other than James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were ahead of us on the path to the castle. Remus turned.

"Hi, Sarah," he replied as we caught up; Sirius avoided my gaze while Lily and James smiled at each other. "What's up?"

Sarah smiled; I remembered all the times I'd found the two of them hanging out together. Remus and Sarah were very good friends; Remus considered Sarah his best friend, after the Marauders.

"Would you go to Muggle Formal Night with me?" she asked. "I don't have a date."

"Sure," he replied, smiling.

"Great. Thanks, Remus."

"No problem."

I noticed Sirius watching Lily and James, who were now talking quietly together outside our little group, with a funny look on his face. It was an expression I had never seen before; jealous and bitter.

Somehow, I knew the expression wasn't meant for them; but I couldn't figure out who it was for.

**SIRIUS BLACK**

We'd been back from Hogsmeade for hours---it was now nearly one in the morning---and I hadn't yet opened my mouth.

"Padfoot, mate, you haven't said a word since Sarah asked Remus to the ball," James pointed out as the clock on the mantle struck one. "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"Super." I said flatly; I couldn't be bothered with putting any kind of emotion into the word. I was tired, and I didn't much care whether James was worried about me or not.

"Liar," James replied boldly. "You're still upset that Hermione's going with Kevin."

"Would you stop trying to analyze my feelings?" I snapped. "Yeah, I'm pissed at this Kevin guy because he beat me to her. I'm pissed at Hermione for saying yes. I'm pissed at you and Lily for being happy together. I'm pissed at my parents for being the biggest fools I've ever met. I'm pissed at the whole goddamn world right now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd just leave me the hell alone."

James met my angry gaze, and nodded slowly. He'd seen me upset before; he knew I didn't mean anything I said. He also knew enough to leave the common room, heading up to the dormitories as he said, "Night, Sirius."

"Goodnight," I replied shortly, before sitting on the couch by the fire.

I wasn't alone for long.

Hermione wandered in through the portait hole with a book; apparently she'd been reading somewhere. Not the library, I knew, because that was closed, but somewhere. I didn't say anything, just watched her look around. She started when she saw me; she nearly dropped her book.

"Sirius! You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said quietly.

"I was---reading. I lost track of time."

"Huh," I said quietly. "What book?" I asked, looking at the cover. By the flickering light of the fire, I read: Time Travel for Time Travelers Raising an eyebrow, I didn't say a word, but thoughts were running rampid in my head.

"Oh, Sirius," she said suddenly, and the sadness in her voice caught my attention. "Why do you look so hurt?"

"Do I?" I asked, then realized I'd been thinking about what my life would be like if she went back to her time. Which, I supposed, would give me a hurt expression.

"Yes, you do. Sirius, it's not that I don't love all of you to death---you, and James, and Remus; and Lily and her friends, and Kevin. All of you. It's just---" she paused rather painfully as she sat down next to me and put her book on the table. "It's just that I miss them so much," she whispered, her eyes slowly filling with tears. "Harry, and Ron. Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. I---I'm going to miss so many important things, things we always thought we'd do together. I'll miss graduating with my class, and getting jobs together, and---" She paused to take a deep breath, vanishing her unshed tears with several blinks. "When I first got here, all I wanted to do was go back. But know I've become friends with all of you, and I know that going back would mean feeling the same sense of loss I feel now. And I just wish I could be in both places at once. Here with you, and in that time with them."

"I'm sorry," I replied sincerely. "I want to help you, Hermione. But time---it's so complicated. I doubt anyone will ever understand it completely."

"Wait," she said suddenly. "Won't I do the same thing? I mean, won't my seventeen-year-old self walk through that door and go back in time just like I did? And all of this will happen all over again?"

I shook my head, then raised my wand and said, "_Accio _Hogwarts and Time: The World's Largest Mysteries."

The book flew down the boy's dormitory stairs, coming from my trunk, and I caught it. I opened it to the index, running my finger along the list until I found what I was looking for. "Ah," I said out loud, and thumbed through the pages as Hermione watched me curiously.

"See, Hermione?" I said, allowing her to read the page I'd found. "Hogwarts _wanted_ you to go back. It knew you had to. Hogwarts is an old building; it's even older in your time. It's seen a lot. It knew you had to come back in time, so it shifted it's staircases around until you did. Now that you have, it'll let your younger self stay in that time---unless you don't do the task you've been sent back to do."

"That's good, I suppose. But what's my task?"

I shrugged. "I can't answer that; only you can."

"But I can't either! How am I supposed to know why I've been sent back if I didn't even know I was going to be?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "Maybe you don't have to know yet. You'll figure it out."

"Yeah," she replied, looking into the fire, but I knew she wasn't seeing flames. "Maybe."

**HERMIONE GRANGER**

After looking through my memories for while, my eyes on the fire for fear Sirius would see something in them, I looked up. Sirius was still there; a glance at the clock told me we'd been sitting like this for the past half an hour. Sirius still stared at the fire, as if watching it would show him the answer to his problems---and I knew he had problems. He had black smudges beneath his black eyes; eyes that held memories of shadows and pain.

"Sirius," I said quietly, startling him slightly.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

He looked up slowly to look into my eyes. The pain in his expression was even more pronounced now that it was directed at me.

"Nothing," he lied.

I sighed. "Okay."

We both looked into the fire once more before I asked, "Sirius, do you trust me?"

Sirius' face relaxed as he looked at me. "With what?" he asked slowly, one eyebrow raised.

I shrugged. "With...anything, I suppose."

Sirius looked into my eyes for awhile. "Yes," he said finally.

He was telling the truth, I could tell; but it was as if he hadn't realized that he did, in fact, trust me, and saying the words aloud had alerted him to the fact. He looked slightly startled. "Yes," he repeated. "I trust you."

"Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?" I asked quietly.

He tipped his head slightly to one side, as he did when he was thinking.

"I don't know. I guess I don't want you thinking I'm...I don't know."

"You don't want me thinking you're _what_?" I asked.

He looked back at the fire, a small lopsided smile on his face. "Weak," he said quietly. "A wimp. I don't know."

I started laughing. I couldn't help myself. Sirius Black, weak? He had to be kidding me. He'd been the first one ever to break out of Azkaban prison in my time---and the only one ever who'd gone to prison without going mad. _Weak_? How ridiculous.

Sirius stared at me, his lopsided smile widening to a grin. "Didn't think it was _that _funny," he commented mildly.

I managed to calm down, shaking my head. "Sirius, you forget I knew your older self in my time. You were a lot of things, but _weak_ was not one of them."

"What am I like?" Sirius asked. "When I'm older, I mean."

I thought for a moment. "You won't be him," I said. "You won't be the man I knew; because the things that made him Sirius aren't going to happen to you. You'll be different."

He watched me closely for a minute, then spoke.

"What happened to me in your time that won't happen in this one?" Sirius asked.

I hesitated. "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

I paused. "How's this: I'll tell you about the Sirius I knew if you'll tell me what's wrong."

Sirius hesitated; not visibly, but I could see apprehension in his eyes as he thought. "Okay," he said finally. "Go."

The next half an hour was spent telling Sirius everything I knew about his future self; he flinched at the idea that people thought he would betray James. I carefully avoided saying Lily's name; I knew it would be the first thing Sirius would say to James the next time he saw him.

"So who _did_ betray James?" Sirius asked after a long moment of silence. The fire had, by now, been reduced to red-hot coals.

"I can't tell you," I told him. He was upset about that, I knew; he looked back into the fire without a word. Without even thinking about it, I reached up and caught his chin, gently turning his face back towards me. His eyes were dark with some unidentifiable emotion.

"It's not because I don't trust you," I told him. "But it's someone you know, and I don't want to affect your relationship with them. Because Dumbledore says that just the fact that I'm here will change the future; which also means that that person's betrayal probably won't happen. Please," I added quietly, searching Sirius' dark eyes for some sign of understanding. "Believe me when I say I trust you."

He looked at me for a long time, reaching up to cover my hand with his own. "I do," he said slowly. "I believe you."

I smiled at him, looking directly into his eyes as I said, "Thank you."

A loud _thud_ made us both jump; I pulled my hand away from Sirius' face as we both stood up.

"It came from the boy's dormitories," I told him, and we both took off up the stairs.


End file.
